Pro-Boris Tories Want To Derail Rishi Sunak's Campaign To Be The Next Prime Minister
There is a briefing war behind the scenes aimed at preventing Rishi Sunak from becoming Prime Minister (Alamy)
5 min read
Rishi Sunak has become the target of sustained negative briefings as a behind-the-scenes campaign by some Tory MPs attempts to block him from becoming the next Prime Minister.
The early frontrunner to replace Boris Johnson is facing criticism from the right of the party and those still loyal to the current PM.
Allies of Johnson have accused the former chancellor of disloyalty after he stood down from Cabinet last Tuesday, helping start the wave of ministerial resignations which eventually led to the PM announcing he would soon leave office.
In the nascent leadership contest, taxation has become the totemic issue, with Sunak being the only candidate to suggest now is not the time to cut taxes, while several of his rivals have unveiled ambitious plans to immediately curb levies from the first day they entered Number 10.
A former special advisor told PoliticsHome Sunak's multiple tax rises have not been popular with MPs or Tory activists, and if he gets to the final two he’s going to have Jacob Rees-Mogg telling the membership “this guy's a fucking communist”.
“You ask any MP, if they were to host an event for their members with Jacob Rees-Mogg it will sell out in 24 hours, so his influence is not to be sniffed at,” they added.
In his flashy video launching Sunak's campaign he made a pledge to be “serious”, taking aim at those who may offer “comforting fairytales” rather than economic truths.
But that has made him a target for accusations he is not a “true Conservative”, with Rees-Mogg using his only interview after Johnson’s resignation to take aim at Sunak, saying he was “not a successful chancellor".
“He was a high tax chancellor, and he was a chancellor who was not alert to the inflationary problem," the PM’s ally told Channel 4 News.
Currently the bookies’ favourite, and with far more MP endorsements than any other candidate, Sunak is expected to make it into the final two of the race to replace Johnson. Sunak has the public backing of 33 MPs, including former party chair Oliver Dowden, who resigned in the wake of last month's double by-election defeat for the Tories, calling for a change in leadership.
But he has been accused of planning his bid to become PM months ago. His campaign website was registered last December. He has also faced criticism over his apparent lack of loyalty to Johnson during the past few difficult months, after the Prime Minister promoted him to Chancellor in early 2020.
Sunak was accused of “trying to ride two horses” by a government source who suggested he offered the minimum-required support for his then-boss while simultaneously jockeying for position in a future Tory leadership contest.
Speaking to PoliticsHome earlier this year, they said the tenor of Sunak’s comments had “been noted in Number 10” when asked about the so-called “partygate” row, and there was anger when he suggested there should be tough consequences for rule-breaking or misleading the House.
After Johnson was forced to apologise in the Commons over Downing Street gatherings in lockdown, Sunak waited more than eight hours to tweet his support, having travelled to Devon for a pre-arranged engagement rather than attending the Chamber himself.
A former Number 10 adviser also pointed to a leaked letter from Sunak that put him at odds with Johnson over the relaxation of travel rules last summer.
It was claimed Johnson threatened to demote him over the leak, and later they had a number of battles over taxation and opening policy.
A Downing Street insider accused Sunak of being “obsessed with balancing the books” and not having a plan to improve economic growth and productivity as the cost of living crisis hit.
Other Johnson allies such as Nadine Dorries have also been critical, with the culture secretary accusing him of doing a deal with Dominic Cummings in today’s Daily Mail.
After the former Downing Street aide issued a string of attacks on Tory leadership contenders, including Foreign Secretary Liz Truss who is seen as Sunak’s main rival, Dorries suggested he and the former chancellor had been working together for "quite a long time”.
“People have to ask themselves the question: why is Cummings backing Rishi?” she said.
"The answer to that question is because Cummings believes he can control Rishi and sees a role for himself back in government, and that is quite terrifying.”
A Sunak campaign source said he and Cummings “have not spoken since he left Number 10 almost two years ago”, he had “absolutely no involvement whatsoever” in the campaign, and would have no role in a future administration.
But the briefings against him seem set to continue, with a clip of a young Sunak saying he has “no working class friends” resurfacing over the weekend, and the Telegraph reported the existence of a so-called “mucky memo” attacking him which was being shared around Tory WhatsApp groups.
Said to have been put together by someone on the right of the party, it says “there is nothing Conservative about the ‘Big Tax and Big Spend’ agenda of Rishi Sunak”.
In an attempt to avoid his potential coronation as leader, it hits out at his economic policy and manifesto-breaking taxes, as well as highlighting the row over him holding a US green card and his wife’s non-dom status, both of which were resolved earlier this year.
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