Tory anarchy breaks out as revolt looms on Brexit laws
Rishi Sunak was losing control of an increasingly anarchic Tory party on Saturday as former cabinet ministers openly criticised the direction of policy under his leadership and dozens of backbench MPs plotted a new rebellion over Brexit.
Amid recriminations over the heavy Conservative losses in recent council elections, and with pro-Brexit MPs incensed that Sunak’s government is dropping plans to shred more than 4,000 EU laws within months, discipline was at risk of completely disintegrating on the right of the party.
Speaking at the inaugural conference of the pro-Boris Johnson Conservative Democratic Organisation (CDO) in Bournemouth on Saturday, former home secretary Priti Patel suggested the party’s high command under Sunak was responsible for the losses.
In a clear swipe at those now in charge, she said some senior figures at Westminster had “done a better job at damaging our party” over the past year than Labour. She also criticised MPs for removing Johnson, saying they had overseen the “ousting of our most electorally successful prime minister since Margaret Thatcher”.
In comments reminiscent of the disastrous Liz Truss leadership, she also backed a tax-cutting agenda, despite the perilous state of public finances and stubbornly high inflation. “The public will not vote Conservative because they want high taxes, high spending and high borrowing,” she said. “They vote Conservative because they expect us to keep taxes down.”
Nadine Dorries, the former culture secretary and one of Johnson’s biggest backers, told the conference that the party had undergone an “astonishing political tumble” since Johnson secured an 80-strong majority in 2019 and was “going backwards”.
“We are drifting and people know that,” she said. “They
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