The Tory rebellion explained as Sir Simon Clarke calls on Rishi Sunak to quit

The Prime Minister faced calls to resign on Tuesday night from a former cabinet minister who claimed the Conservative Party would suffer an electoral “massacre” under Rishi Sunak’s leadership.

Sir Simon Clarke, who served as housing secretary under Liz Truss for less than two months, called on his Tory colleagues to “change leader” and avoid an “impending catastrophe”.

“We have a clear choice,” the MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland wrote in an article for The Telegraph. “Stick with Rishi Sunak, take the inevitable electoral consequences, and give the Left a blank cheque to change Britain as they see fit.”

Or we can change leader, and give our country and party a fighting chance.”

Sir Clarke’s remarks follow a vote by the MP against Mr Sunak’s Safety of Rwanda Bill last week.

Downing Street has yet to comment on his op-ed.

Here is everything you need about this latest challenge to the Prime Minister’s leadership.

Why has Sir Clarke called for a new leader?

If an election were to be held the Conservatives would be left with just 169 MPs, instead of their current 450 MPs, according to a recent Telegraph YouGov MRP poll.

In his article, Sir Clarke cited the Rwanda Bill, which went through Parliament last week with 61 Conservative MPs voting to amend it.

This represented the biggest rebellion of Mr Sunak’s premiership so far – led by former Home Office minister Robert Jenrick.

The avid Ms Truss supporters wrote on Tuesday night: “The British people cannot fathom why our Government is letting tens of thousands of people illegally cross the Channel every year.”

He also criticised net legal migration – which rose to 672,000 in 2023 – and suggested a new leader would fare a better chance at the polls if they took a tougher approach on the issue.

The possible return of Nigel Farage also risked pushing the Conservative Party into “extinction”, according to Sir Clarke.

He believed a significant portion of the Tories’ votes could go to Mr Farage’s Reform UK if Sir Clarke’s party did not echo the former UKIP leader’s hardline policies.

What was the reaction from the rest of his party?

Another Conservative MP, Andrea Jenkyns, claimed last week that “at least” 29 letters of no-confidence had been submitted against Mr Sunak.

A leadership contest can only be triggered if a minimum of 53 MPs write to the chair of the 1922 Committee requesting one.

By Wednesday morning several Tory MPs had already come out, strongly opposing the prospect of a new leader.

Former cabinet minister David Davis condemned Sir Clarke’s commentary on X (formerly Twitter) saying, “This is getting silly”.

“The party and the country are sick and tired of MPs putting their own leadership ambitions ahead of the UK’s best interests,” he said.

“It is really about time that these people realise they have a duty to the country that is greater than their personal leadership ambitions.”

Meanwhile, former defence secretary Sir Liam Fox said Sir Clarke was guilty of “self indulgence” and stoking “tribalism in the party”.

He said another leadership context would “destabilise the government”.

Former home secretary Dame Priti Patel said: “At this critical time for our country … it’s time to unite and get on with the job.”

What was the response from other parties?

John Ashworth, a Labour shadow cabinet minister, said Sir Clarke revealed how the Conservative Party was “divided from top to bottom.”

Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper said it was “utterly ludicrous that the Conservative Party is even discussing installing a fourth prime minister without giving voters a say”.

Mr Sunak is the third Conservative prime minister since the 2019 election, after MPs deposed both Boris Johnson and Liz Truss in 2022.