Tories say ‘dull bank manager’ Sunak is ‘sleepwalking’ towards election defeat
Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt are to resist increasingly urgent calls from Conservative MPs for tax cuts next month despite the party’s double by-election defeats.
A former cabinet minister, who is still a sitting Tory MP, warned the rout in Tamworth and Mid-Bedfordshire showed the party is “sleepwalking to disaster” at the next election and that the electorate would not vote for “two competent but dull bank managers” regardless of policies.
Mr Sunak will mark his first year anniversary as Prime Minister this Wednesday amid despair from many of his MPs that he has failed to significantly narrow Labour’s polling advantage since taking over. The Conservatives recovered slightly from an average 25-point deficit under Liz Truss, but Mr Sunak’s party is consistently 20 points behind Labour in the polls.
The double by-election defeat to Labour has heightened calls for the Chancellor to accelerate tax cuts in next month’s Autumn Statement, as well as radical, eye-catching policies for the electorate in the King’s Speech.
But Mr Sunak and Mr Hunt are expected to urge Tory MPs to be patient, insisting that inflation – which was stuck at 6.7 per cent for two months in a row – needs to be brought down first.
A Treasury source said: “The Prime Minister and Chancellor want to lower the personal tax burden as soon as possible, but our overriding priority right now has to be inflation reduction. It is by far the best tax cut we can give the British people right now.”
A Conservative MP and former Cabinet minister told i: “The truth is that every single Conservative MP that I speak to, we all know that we are heading for a disaster. The question is how much of a disaster, or how less of a disaster?
“I am not sure there is any particular policy that would change the mood, because we have a dull bank manager for a prime minister.
“The public is so tired of us that they would look at the managers rather than the policy.
“Of course tax cuts would be welcome, but anything from Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt would be so minimal that they would be a token gesture. Expectations are being managed so that they might throw us a morsel expecting us to see it as a feast.
“Every Tory MP knows we are heading for a disaster, and we are just sleepwalking into it.”
The ex-minister said they did not know whether any MPs had sent in letters of no confidence in Mr Sunak to Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 committee. The MP added: “No one is talking about letters yet, and I am not aware of any going in, but it may be that they have.
“Boris proved his worth. When he left we were five points behind in the polls, now we are 20. We missed a chance by ditching him. I suspect many of the people who helped to get rid of him are now looking at their P45s. It is self-inflicted wounds.
“Some people are pretending there is a route to victory, but nobody knows how. Rishi and Jeremy are both very nice people but they are competent, average bank managers.”
A backbench Conservative MP urged Mr Sunak to do more on immigration, saying that leaving the European Court of Human Rights would be an election winner and adding: “The PM needs to get on and focus on stopping the boats.”
But another senior Tory MP said: “Autumn is not the right time for tax cuts. The focus should be on steadying the economy.”
Meanwhile the Observer reported claims by some Tory MPs that Mr Hunt is preparing to step down as an MP before polling day, expected in spring or autumn 2024, to avoid a “Portillo moment” on election night.
Mr Hunt had a majority of just over 8,000 in South West Surrey in 2019, and due to boundary changes the new seat of Godalming and Ash could be vulnerable to a Lib Dem victory.
However a spokesman for the Chancellor denied he would quit, saying: “Jeremy Hunt will stand as the Conservative Party candidate for Godalming and Ash at the next general election.”
