FORMER Conservative chancellor George Osborne has said his party could be wiped out at the next election.
He said the “political experiment” of Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng's mini budget had “blown up the chemistry lab”.
"Everyone's sort of standing there with the wreckage of the political situation for the conservatives markedly worse than it was several months ago, in terms of the opinion poll position, the likelihood of a Labour victory, the likelihood of a Tory wipe out at a general election," he told Channel 4's Andrew Neil show.
"Now those things were not really on the cards on the day Liz Truss became Prime Minister.
"I think a Tory wipeout is potentially on the cards but we've got two years to run.
"So it still doesn't feel for a variety of reasons, including that Labour hasn't quite sealed the deal in the way that Tony Blair and Gordon Brown had sealed the deal in the mid 90s, but it's certainly a possibility."
Former Conservative Chancellor @George_Osborne tells @AFNeil a Tory wipeout could “be on the cards”.
— Channel 4 (@Channel4) October 9, 2022
Join us tonight on @Channel4, 6.15pm #AndrewNeilShow @AFNeil pic.twitter.com/gttIr8ppvA
The Prime Minister will attempt to soothe tensions in her party this week as MPs return to Westminster.
But with polls putting Labour anywhere between 25 and 30 points ahead, and her MPs openly attacking each other, Ms Truss's leadership is under pressure.
Many of her backbenchers and some of her ministers are calling on her not to push ahead with a real-terms cut to benefits.
Reportedly, Ms Truss would rather they increased in line with earnings, around 5.5 per cent, instead of inflation, which would see them jump by 10%.
The initial promise to uprate them in line with the Consumer Price Index was made by Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak just five months ago.
While the Prime Minister might be happy to break that promise, many of her backbenchers are unwilling to do so.
Former chancellor Sajid Javid added his voice to the growing opposition.
“People are going through incredibly challenging times. We can all see that in our community. So I personally believe that benefits must stay in line with inflation,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Baroness Philippa Stroud, Tory peer and chief executive of the Legatum Institute, added that benefit payments must go up in line with inflation as “you don’t build growth on the back of the poor”.
Work and pensions minister Victoria Prentis insisted no decision has been made with considerations needing to be made on average wage figures on Tuesday and inflation stats on October 19.
“It’s obviously a really worrying time for people on benefits because they know that inflation is rising, and they want us to make this decision as soon as we possibly can so that they have the security of knowing how their benefits will be next year,” she told Sky News.
The minister called for the Tory party to “focus a bit less on internal squabbling and a bit more on helping the country through some really difficult times”.
In a bid to reach across to other wings of the Tories, Ms Truss has appointed Greg Hands – who supported her rival Rishi Sunak in the Conservative leadership race – to replace sacked minister Conor Burns in the Department for International Trade.
Senior Tory Mel Stride said it is “fairly febrile” being a Conservative MP at the moment, as he argued there have been “too many missteps” by the new Government.
“There are a lot of backbenchers and indeed members of the Government who are very concerned at where we are in the polls,” he told Times Radio.
“We’ve got two years to a general election. There’s a recognition that we’ve got to turn things around and start doing it very quickly. I think most people do, as I do, see the economy as being right at the heart of that… and that there have been too many missteps.”
In addition to “the policy and the economics”, the chairman of the Treasury Select Committee pointed to “the management of the parliamentary party”.
“Now the… Prime Minister decided to, after she won that contest, to form a Government which was predominantly made up of those that were strong supporters of her personally – and that’s fine, and I have no problem with that,” he said.
“But I think there was a shortfall when it came to reaching out right across the party, and I think you’re probably seeing some of the consequences of that now that things are getting a bit tougher.”
Former veterans’ affairs minister Johnny Mercer told the Andrew Neil Show he wants the Tories to get “back on track” in the “centre ground”, as he did not rule out standing as an independent in the next election.
Mr Mercer said he wants the Conservatives to bring about “real change for people who need it” and solve “some of these massive global problems”.
“And if they do that, then of course I’ll be here,” he said.
Asked if he would run as an independent should the Tories not deliver the “programme of change” he is calling for, he said: “Well, let’s see what happens.”
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