Tories not ‘massively divided’ over Sunak’s leadership, insists Leadsom

The Tories are not “massively divided” but there are “one or two” plotters seeking to split the party, a minister has said.

Dame Andrea Leadsom, a former leadership contender, hit out at the “briefing and counter-briefing” but denied the party is deeply riven.

Health minister Dame Andrea insisted Rishi Sunak is “getting on with the programme of government”.

Her comments came after Mr Sunak issued a call to arms to Tory MPs in Parliament as he battled to assert his authority following days of speculation about his position.

The Prime Minister addressed the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee on Wednesday with a plea for unity ahead of May’s local elections.

In an LBC Radio interview ,Dame Andrea was asked about the fractious state of the Tory Party and said: “You’re trying to assert that everything’s riven.

“I’m just trying to explain to you, as I walk around Parliament, as I attend 1922 Committees, as I go into the members’ tea room, into the lobby, I do not see a party that’s massively divided.

“There are one or two people who are trying to cause that division but what the Government is doing is trying to get on with the programme.”

She hinted the general election will be in the autumn and said Mr Sunak should not feel pressure to call an early ballot because opinion polls suggest the public want him out of No 10.

The latest poll, published by YouGov on Thursday, showed Conservative support had fallen to 19%, the same as the lowest share recorded by the party in a YouGov poll during Liz Truss’s brief tenure as prime minister.

The poll gave Labour a 25-point lead over the Conservatives, while Reform was only four points behind the Tories on 15%, the party’s highest level of support yet.

In response to an suggestion that the Prime Minister does not have the support of the nation, according to polls, Dame Andrea told Sky News: “We have periodic general elections, and the Prime Minister has set out quite clearly an autumn timeframe.

“You don’t call a general election just because there is a particular mood or a particular situation, that very, very rarely happens.”

In Westminster on Wednesday evening, Conservative backbenchers filing out of the closed-doors 1922 Committee meeting sought to stress broad support for the leader.

However, it is understood Mr Sunak was challenged by former party chairman Sir Jake Berry at the meeting over media briefings against him which he alleged had originated from No 10.

Sir Jake stressed he had not submitted a letter of no confidence in the Prime Minister but said he had raised the issue with the whips and received no reply.

Meanwhile, Tory MP Jonathan Gullis hit out at what he described as a “tiny minority” of critics and dismissed suggestions of friction at the meeting, claiming there was “not a single dissenting voice” in the room.

“I certainly would call out those idiots for being idiots because essentially all they’re doing is guaranteeing a Labour government and that’s the last thing I want,” he told reporters.

The mood in the tea rooms this week suggested Tory MPs are “very upset about the briefings over the weekend” and “it’s distracting from their records, it’s distracting from our messaging”, he said.