If the Tories are to survive they must stop the infighting and rally behind Rishi Sunak

Rishi Sunak is coming under growing pressure from his own party as its dire results at the local elections in England sink in. Conservative MPs who fear they may lose their seats at the general election claim he is merely “managing decline”.

The criticism surfaced at the launch conference of the Conservative Democratic Organisation (CDO) in Bournemouth on Saturday. Officially, the group’s aim is to give grassroots Tory members more influence. Unofficially, it is the remaining fan club of Boris Johnson and its members believe he was unfairly pushed out of Downing Street. The group’s barely concealed agenda is to see him return there, but that is likely to remain a distant dream.

CDO leaders have a point when they claim Mr Sunak did not secure a mandate from party members, who did not get a vote when a ballot among Tory MPs last October left him as the only nomination to succeed Liz Truss. But the MPs did the right thing; the antidote to the chaos and turbulence of the Johnson and Truss regimes could not be Mr Johnson, who flirted with a comeback.

Tory MPs should take the advice of one of the speakers at the CDO conference, Jacob Rees-Mogg. Although no ally of Mr Sunak, he rightly warned his party it would be “toast” if it changed its leader yet again before the election.

Despite Mr Rees-Mogg’s “support” for the prime minister, there are menacing noises from Mr Sunak’s critics, who grumble that he is not a vote-winner, and hint that he might face a leadership challenge if he has not improved the party’s fortunes by early next year.

Another headache for Mr Sunak is a three-day conference about the US brand of right-wing “national conservatism” in London, starting on Monday, at which the speakers will include Suella Braverman, the home secretary. The organisers argue that “conservatism in Britain has lost its way” and “forgotten what we really believe in and what the public voted for in the Brexit referendum”.

The movement believes in the nation state, free enterprise and religion, and opposes globalism. While some Tories will identify with such values, they would be an electoral cul-de-sac for the party. Even more social conservatism than the government is already offering is not going to appeal to the younger adults the Tories must reach to maintain a winning coalition; thankfully, the UK is becoming more socially liberal. The “NatCons” are one import this country can do without.

As if Mr Sunak did not have enough to worry about from Mr Johnson’s allies, Ms Truss will stir the pot on Wednesday by making a speech in Taiwan that risks upsetting the prime minister’s delicate balancing act on relations with China. She will call on the West to do more on arms cooperation with Taiwan. Ms Truss would be taken more seriously if she were a team player rather than an attention-seeker.

For good measure, Mr Sunak is facing a Commons rebellion by Tory Eurosceptics, furious he has dropped his pledge during last year’s leadership election to shred about 4,000 EU laws by the end of this year. In fact, the government’s policy is pragmatic and right; allowing legislation to lapse without proper scrutiny by an arbitrary deadline would risk harming business and much-needed investment. Mr Sunak has seen off the Brexit purists once, over the Northern Ireland protocol, and must do so again. They can still make a lot of noise, but not before time their influence is waning.

Mr Sunak will need to raise his game to keep his party onside. As a minimum, he will have to deliver his five pledges on the economy, NHS and small boats, which are looking harder to achieve than he bargained for when he announced them in January. Then he will need a positive forward-looking offer for the election.

It is no coincidence that much of the manoeuvring involves Tory figures with a personal grudge against Mr Sunak, and who seem willing to put self-interest above the party’s interest. Contemplating their own navels amid a cost of living crisis would make the Tories’ election prospects even more precarious. But they look increasingly like a party preparing for defeat, and the battle for its soul and leadership contest that would probably then commence.

The local elections have left the Tories at a fork in the road. They can either stick with the stable, competent government Mr Sunak has brought or lurch into another public display of infighting and disunity. The party should rally behind the person who offers it the best chance of avoiding defeat – Mr Sunak.