Tories turn on each other over ‘insane’ plotting to oust Rishi Sunak

Angry Conservative MPs have begun to turn on each other amid growing rumours of a plot to oust Rishi Sunak ahead of the general election.

The would-be rebels were described as “clinically insane” by colleagues worried that anointing a third unelected Tory Prime Minister would only make the party even more unpopular.

Right-wingers unhappy with Mr Sunak are understood to have touted Penny Mordaunt as a possible replacement who could attract support from all wings of the party.

The Leader of the House of Commons, who twice stood for the leadership unsuccessfully in 2022, has not commented publicly on the speculation.

One senior Conservative MP told i: “There’s definitely talk about replacing Sunak. It’s been happening on lower levels for months but I think some colleagues are taking it more seriously now.” They added: “It seems to be to be coming from an anxiety about our chances at the next election. Sadly, I think the writing is on the wall there. The one thing that would ensure our defeat is a sixth Prime Minister.”

A former minister said that talk about the possibility of a May election, now ruled out, “concentrated the minds” of rebels worried about the possibility of defeat. The MP said: “I think they [the rebels] are keen to challenge him and trying to work out if Penny can be acceptable.”

The local elections on 2 May are seen by some as a key moment when the Tories will be tested across a wide swathe of England, potentially prompting a formal challenge to the Prime Minister.

But one MP said: “Clearly the PM needs to pull his socks up a little, but people are clinically insane if they think we can and should change. The PM’s job would be made a lot easier if people got behind him.”

Another added: “The only person who actually might want a change is Penny, as she knows post-election she won’t have a chance of being leader.”

Only two Conservative MPs have openly called for Mr Sunak to be deposed, and the mechanism for removing the leader remains unclear, with the prospect of a months-long leadership election to replace him if he were forced out.

Leading figures from the right of the party have publicly called for loyalty to the Prime Minister as the Tories seek to close on Labour’s large lead in the opinion polls. Sir Iain Duncan Smith, a former party leader, told GB News: “Rishi is here, we have to get behind him… The answer is we either decide that we want to get the election won or we just want to give up on it. The only way you can do politics is to aim to win.”

Transport Secretary Mark Harper told Times Radio: “I say to all of my colleagues that politics is a team game. We work better as a team. We face a choice between our party, which has a plan which is working, set out by the Prime Minister, and the Labour party, which doesn’t have a plan.”

But ex-Cabinet minister Sir Jake Berry accused No 10 of smearing him by naming him among the plotters. He said: “I don’t think he’s a bad Prime Minister. But I do think the people he has around him are inept.”