THERESA May is to face the full force of Conservative anger today when she addresses a private meeting of the party’s 1922 Committee of backbenchers following her election humiliation.
George Osborne, whom she sacked as Chancellor last year and who now edits the London Evening Standard, branded her a “dead woman walking” and even suggested that she could be ousted in a matter of days.
However, showing the post-election tensions within Tory ranks, Dominic Raab, the former minister, hit out at Mr Osborne, accusing him of being "disloyal, unprofessional and pretty self-indulgent".
Nicky Morgan, the former Education Secretary, who was also sacked by the Prime Minister, predicted that there could be a leadership challenge over the summer.
"It's fairly clear Theresa May cannot lead us into another election; of course, we don't know when that's going to happen and I don't think we should rush that," she told ITV's Peston on Sunday.
"But I do think if we're going to have a leadership contest in the Conservative Party, what we cannot do is have another coronation like last summer," she added.
Anna Soubry, the former business minister, made clear Mrs May's position was "untenable" in the long term but cautioned against a rush to replace her.
"I just can't see how she can continue in any long-term way. She will have to go, unfortunately, but not for some time," she told Sky News's Sophy Ridge on Sunday.
"We need stability. We need to put that sense of the economy and our country and the nation's interests absolutely at the forefront, none of this messing about behind the scenes."
Andrew Mitchell, the former international development secretary, said: “There is no disguising the fact it was an absolutely terrible campaign. I have fought nine general elections as a parliamentary candidate and this was by far the worst.”
However, he added: “For now, it would be grossly irresponsible to seek to undermine her premiership. We have an absolute duty to have a Queen’s Speech and to form a government. It’s incumbent on all of us to give the prime minister very strong support in carrying out those two vital tasks.”
Graham Brady, the influential chairman of the 1922 Committee, stressed that there was no appetite for a leadership contest, which could see the party having to fight another general election with the possibility of losing it to Labour.
And Lord Howard of Lympne, the former party leader, denied suggestions that Mrs May was now a "lame duck" premier as he gave her his backing. “She not only can stay but should stay,” declared the Tory peer.
"It'd be immensely disruptive if we had either a Conservative leadership or a general election during the Brexit process," he told BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend.
After the resignation of Mrs May’s key aides, Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy, Sir Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, made clear that her cabinet colleagues were now asserting their authority over a weakened PM.
The Scot welcomed the No 10 resignations and explained: “We are going to see, I hope, more collective decision-making in the Cabinet. I and other senior colleagues have made that clear to her.
"You will also see that she will want to work much more closely with the parliamentary party both in the conduct of business and the development of policy," he added.
Mr Brady argued that the loss of their Commons majority meant much of the Conservatives’ election manifesto would have to be abandoned and that Mrs May would have to present a "slimmed down" Queen's Speech.
"There is no point in sailing ahead with items that were in the manifesto that we won't get through parliament. We are going to have to work very carefully. I have no doubt that it will be a slimmed down Queen's speech and we should concentrate on the bits that really have to be done," he said.
When he chairs the 1922 Committee later today the atmosphere in the Commons is likely to be incendiary as particularly experienced hands vent their spleen at what many believe was a woefully poor campaign, which saw a poll lead of 20 points whittled down to almost zero, a humiliating U-turn on social care costs and the absence of the PM in live TV debates.
One senior MP described the Tories’ programme for government as “breathtakingly dumb” but accepted the departure of her chief aides had bought Mrs May a little bit of time, stressing the word “little”.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel