Reading the headlines this morning, you’d be forgiven for believing the Conservative Party was not working to rally the troops at conference but that it had already lost the next election and was looking for a new leader. Rishi Sunak has not stepped down—or been kicked out—yet, but it appears his time is now up.
According to The Independent, the Tory leadership battle is already underway and was ramped up during a fringe event speech yesterday by Liz Truss. The shortest-serving former prime minister channeled Donald Trump when she urged the party to move away from Sunak’s “too big” state in order to “[make] Britain grow again.”
Former Home Secretary Priti Patel also took a shot at the current administration, which she accused of relying on rhetoric rather than action, particularly in relation to immigration.
These interventions, as well as Suella Braverman’s own migration unload last week, prompted The Daily Telegraph to focus this morning on the likelihood of the next Tory leader being a woman—all while Sunak is trying to consolidate his own leadership.
Editors at The Guardian have been thinking on the same path, asking this morning: “Who would replace Rishi Sunak as Tory leader if he loses the election?”
Sunak is, of course, pretending that none of this is happening. The prime minister this morning insisted he was “not at all” concerned by the level of interest in Truss’s attack yesterday. He said that “the mood [at conference] is great. People are excited about the things we’re doing.” But perhaps Patel was more clued up when dancing with Nigel Farage to the tune Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You.
