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Penny Mordaunt’s Tory leadership rivals blamed
for coup plot rumours
Allies of Commons leader say other future candidates
for top job are trying to make her look disloyal
Pippa
Crerar and Kiran Stacey
Mon 18 Mar
2024 18.03 GMT
Penny
Mordaunt’s rivals in a future Conservative leadership contest have been blamed
for briefing coup rumours meant to ruin her chances of eventually taking over
from Rishi Sunak, the Guardian has been told.
The Commons
leader, who came a close third in the leadership contest won by Liz Truss in
2022, has in recent days been at the centre of speculation over an alleged plot
to try to oust the prime minister to avert a general election disaster for the
Conservatives.
But her
allies insisted on Monday that it was “nonsense” that she had been talking to
Tory rightwingers as part of any plot. Everyone knows that Penny’s rivals are
just trying to stir up trouble,” one supporter said.
“She’s
loyal to Rishi and doesn’t want to add legitimacy to all this fluff by publicly
denying the claims.”
On a visit
to the Midlands on Monday, Sunak said he was “not interested in Westminster
politics” and insisted that his party was “united” as he tried to quell
speculation that he could become the latest Tory leader to lose his grip on
power.
Those loyal
to Sunak say they do not believe Mordaunt herself is the source of rumours that
she might stand against him.
“I don’t
know who is putting it about but I don’t think it is her,” said one supportive
cabinet minister. “My best guess is those who are likely to stand against her
at a leadership election in the future are trying to spoil her candidacy now by
making her look disloyal.”
Senior
figures from across the party came to Mordaunt’s defence, with one former
cabinet minister from the Boris Johnson era suggesting that the speculation was
a result of a “three-bottle lunch” between supporters of her rivals and members
of the press.
The reports
about a potential Mordaunt coronation emerged on Friday evening in the Daily
Mail and Daily Telegraph, which said a meeting had taken place between leading
figures on the Tory right and prominent supporters of Mordaunt’s last
leadership bid.
The former
cabinet minister said: “There’s a lot of unhappiness in the party towards Rishi
and the No 10 operation. But we don’t know whether there briefing is coming
from a 12-year-old junior spad in a Whitehall department or a cabinet
minister.”
One
minister from the centre of the party said the claims were “pretty unfair” to
Mordaunt, who they said had been doing the constituency party dinner circuit
for years.
A senior
party figure on the One Nation wing said Mordaunt was being “used” by
supporters of her rightwing rivals for the Tory crown – including Kemi
Badenoch, Suella Braverman and Simon Clarke – to launch a leadership contest.
“They’re
using her to try to take over from Rishi. None of the rightwingers can get the
centre of the party onboard. Even if there’s a coronation, Penny still loses
the election and it takes her out of play for the longer term,” the MP said.
A leading
rightwing MP said it was unlikely their colleagues would back Mordaunt, even as
a compromise candidate, because of her liberal position on social issues such
as trans rights. “I don’t sense any appetite for trouble-making though,” they
said. “I believe this is just Penny’s rivals trying to do her down.”
While
Sunak’s supporters have dismissed the idea that electing a fourth party leader
within a single parliament could revive the party’s fortunes, many remain
unhappy about the way in which his Downing Street operation has worked in
recent weeks.
Even the
prime minister’s allies say he was slow to remove the whip from the former
deputy chair Lee Anderson for his comments about the London mayor, Sadiq Khan,
and then indecisive once more over what to do about the Tory donor Frank
Hester.
Many say
they are frustrated by Downing Street’s inability to stick to a single message.
“The
national insurance cuts in the budget had the potential to cut through,” said
the cabinet minister. “But it won’t do that if we don’t keep talking about it.
Just because we haven’t seen an eight-point narrowing in the polls in the week
after the budget doesn’t mean we should stop talking about it.”
Allies say
Sunak has been frustrated by the latest bout of infighting and he has no
intention of calling an early election to fend it off, as has been suggested by
some in the party. “The plan is still to do it in the last quarter of the
year,” said one.
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