Let Johnson take over to foil leadership ‘conspiracy’, Tory donor tells Truss
Lord Cruddas has suggested a Conservative backbencher ‘cabal’ is working to install Rishi Sunak in No 10.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A wealthy Tory donor and staunch backer of Boris Johnson has started a campaign to get the former prime minister back into No 10.
Lord Cruddas of Shoreditch suggested that Liz Truss could best see off a leadership challenge from Rishi Sunak by letting Mr Johnson take over to face Mr Sunak in a run-off decided by party members.
The Conservative peer, who previously organised a petition to keep Mr Johnson in office after he was ousted by his own MPs, claimed Ms Truss faced a “conspiracy” by a backbench Conservative 1922 Committee “cabal” intent on installing her former Tory leadership rival Mr Sunak in Downing Street.
In a string of tweets, he said: “The 1922 committee will stop at nothing to get their man Rishi as PM. What is playing out now is a conspiracy to bring down #Truss by MPs loyal to Rishi supported by the 1922 committee.”
The 1922 committee would change the rules to axe the voting power of members, who chose Ms Truss over Mr Sunak in the leadership race, Lord Cruddas claimed.
He urged Ms Truss to “take control”, saying that “to survive she needs to act quickly as the #cabal is coming for her and she only has weeks to survive”.
“I believe the best option for #truss is to work with Boris, to allow Boris to return as the leader with #truss getting a key job in the new cabinet. There could be a run-off between #rishi and #borisjohnson for the members to decide. There would only be one winner #boris.
“It is time to do the right thing for our party and for the country who voted for #borisjohnson.”
Lord Cruddas was controversially appointed to the House of Lords by Mr Johnson in 2021 in defiance of a watchdog.
The upper chamber’s Appointments Commission had raised “historic concerns” about the Brexit-backing City financier, which related to allegations that he offered access to then-prime minister David Cameron in exchange for donations when he was the Conservative Party treasurer.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.