Furious Conservatives call for Lord Frost to be blocked from standing as MP
Furious Conservatives have made fresh calls for Lord Frost, the Tory peer who has become the face of a Westminster plot to oust Rishi Sunak, to be blocked from standing as an MP at the next election.
The former Brexit negotiator is on the Conservatives’ list of candidates to stand at the forthcoming election, despite him openly criticising the Government and the Conservative Party in recent weeks.
It comes as Kemi Badenoch attacked the plotters, accusing them of “stirring” by claiming she could be a replacement for Mr Sunak, adding that prime ministers should not be seen as “disposable”.
The Business Secretary, who is the grassroots favourite to replace the Prime Minister, demanded that her colleagues “stop messing around” and “get behind” the Tory leader.
Anger continues to be aimed at Lord Frost, who has become the public face of the shadowy Conservative Britain Alliance, after he penned an article earlier this month warning the Conservatives faced a 1997-style wipeout unless drastic action was taken.
His intervention has infuriated many Tory MPs, particularly as he has been accepted by the party to stand as a candidate at the election.
Under the Conservatives’ rules, candidates are expected to sign up to a “number of rights and responsibilities”, which includes not actively attacking the Government or the leadership. It has prompted some Tories to call for him to be blocked from standing.
One Tory MP told i: “There are better people than him to become MPs.”
Another said: “No one knows who he is or cares what he has to say. Conservatives should be focusing on what they can do to win not making life more difficult for their colleagues who face a tough fight
“He is already a parliamentarian. He has no need to stand for the Commons.”
The comments were echoed by Ms Badenoch on Sunday morning, who urged those attempting to destabilise the Government to stop.
“The fact of the matter is most people in the country are not interested in all of this Westminster tittle-tattle and, quite frankly, the people who keep putting my name in there are not my friends,” she told Sky.
“They didn’t care about me. They didn’t care about my family or what this would entail. They’re just stirring.”
When asked about the former cabinet minister Sir Simon Clarke’s decision to openly call for Mr Sunak to resign, she said it had left her “extremely frustrated”. Asked if she denied having a role in the plotting, she told the BBC: “Apart from calling Simon to tell him to stop what he was doing, absolutely. It’s all anonymous briefings. Who are these people? My friends would never do that.”
Despite her popularity among Tory members, Ms Badenoch has herself drawn attacks from her colleagues, with one former minister telling i: “She’s not a right-winger. Look at the way she bottled the retained EU law bill.”
The MP described the Cabinet minister as “Gove’s proxy”.
“She was basically put in the frame by Gove who wanted someone to draw votes away from Suella [in the Tory leadership race]. That’s why she was there. Unfortunately, she believed his hype.”
Despite Ms Badenoch’s attempts to see off talk of a putsch against Mr Sunak, No 10 will be concerned that the issue refuses to go away, with rumours of a potential move against the Prime Minister persistently gaining headlines.
Senior sources within the Government told i they believe the plotting is being carried out by a “disgruntled” group of former special advisers who want to unseat the Prime Minister before the election.
Ms Badenoch has frequently led the ConservativeHome rankings of Cabinet ministers, which is based on polling among party members and activists. Most recently, she has had a rating of 63.9 to Mr Sunak’s -26.5.
She also came out top in a poll asking who should be the next Conservative leader after Sunak, with 38 per cent of respondents backing her.
What groups make up the Conservative Britain Alliance?
As speculation mounts as to who is behind the Tory plot to oust Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister, the cast list of the main players continues to grow.
The identity of who the members are of the so-called Conservative Britain Alliance has been the focus of gossip in Westminster’s pubs and bars for some weeks now.
Here i looks at the main groups that make up this shadowy pressure group.
The face:
The main person to have put their head above the parapet is Boris Johnson’s former Brexit negotiator Lord Frost. The Tory peer penned a comment piece alongside a major YouGov poll published in the Daily Telegraph that warned the Conservatives were on course for landslide defeat unless Mr Sunak was replaced.
The funders:
Perhaps the best kept secret in Westminster. There have been claims that the people pumping money into the CBA are donors to Nigel Farage’s Reform Party, but this has been dismissed by the party itself, albeit without completely denying it. Instead reports have suggested it is a small group of lesser known Tory donors who have each put forward small amounts of cash to destabilise the Prime Minister.
The advisers:
Senior government sources told i that the push against Mr Sunak was being led by a group of disgruntled former advisers “who couldn’t keep their ministers in a job and pretending they are big dogs”. The only name to have actually emerged, however, is Will Dry, a former junior adviser in No 10, who previously campaigned for a second Brexit referendum.
The usual suspects:
As is often the case with attempted coups against the Prime Minister, familiar faces are being linked to the plotting. Chief among those is Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, who had an acrimonious falling out with Mr Sunak before she was sacked. Another name linked is Ms Braverman’s closest confidante Sir John Hayes. Former Cabinet minister Sir Simon Clarke insisted he was acting alone when he issued a letter of no confidence in the Prime Minister. Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, a staunch ally of Mr Johnson has insisted he is not involved, while another Johnsonite Nadine Dorries has pointed the finger at Tory fixer Dougie Smith.
By Richard Vaughan
