Tory right-wingers furiously accuse Rishi Sunak of ‘abandoning’ Red Wall voters who backed the party in 2019 with his ‘centrist’ reshuffle and sacking of Suella Braverman – but they shy away from calling for PM to be ousted
Tory right-wingers today furiously accused Rishi Sunak of abandoning ‘Red Wall’ voters who delivered Boris Johnson’s 80-seat majority at the 2019 general election.
The New Conservatives group claimed the Prime Minister’s dramatic reshuffle – which included the sacking of Suella Braverman as home secretary – marked a ‘major change’ in the Government’s direction.
Miriam Cates and Danny Kruger, the backbench MPs who co-chair the group, hit out at Mr Sunak after he used a ministerial shake-up to bring back ex-PM David Cameron as Foreign Secretary.
The PM’s reshuffle has been viewed by the Tory Right as an attempt by Mr Sunak to shift to the political centre ahead of the next general election.
But Ms Cates and Mr Kruger warned the PM he was ‘walking away’ from those voters who brought the Tories their victory in 2019.
‘It appears the leadership has decided to abandon the voters who switched to us last time, sacrificing the seats we won from Labour in 2019 in the hope of shoring up support elsewhere,’ they said in a statement.
Yet, despite their anger, the New Conservatives shied away from a direct challenge to Mr Sunak’s leadership.
Tory right-wingers have furiously accused Rishi Sunak of abandoning ‘Red Wall’ voters who delivered Boris Johnson’s 80-seat majority at the 2019 general election
The New Conservatives group claimed the PM’s reshuffle – which included the sacking of Suella Braverman and the return of David Cameron – marked a ‘major change’ in direction
Mr Johnson is pictured with his now wife Carrie in Downing Street while celebrating the Tories’ stunning victory in December 2019
The New Conservatives – a pressure group on the Tory Right – are led by Miriam Cates and Danny Kruger
The intervention by Ms Cates and Mr Kruger followed a meeting of the New Conservatives in Westminster last night, as they considered their response to Mr Sunak’s reshuffle.
The two most notable moves by Mr Sunak were his sacking of Mrs Braverman and his appointment of Lord Cameron, who had spent seven years in the political wilderness after quitting as PM.
But there were also promotions for loyalists of Mr Sunak such as Victoria Atkins – appointed Health Secretary – who comes from the Tories’ ‘One Nation’ wing.
Laura Trott and Richard Holden, who worked for Lord Cameron while he was in No10, were also bumped up the ranks to become Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Conservative Party chairman, respectively.
The blowback from the Tory Right to the reshuffle has been fierce, with one Tory MP — former education minister Dame Andrea Jenkyns – last night submitting a no confidence letter in Mr Sunak’s leadership.
In their own response, Ms Cates and Mr Kruger said: ‘We are concerned that yesterday’s reshuffle indicates a major change in the policy direction of the Government.
‘The Conservative Party now looks like it is deliberately walking away from the coalition of voters who brought us into power with a large majority in 2019.
‘That election, building on the victory of the Leave vote in the Brexit referendum of 2016, represented the realignment of our politics.’
The New Conservatives co-chairs added: ‘Until yesterday, we held onto the hope that the Government still believed in the realignment – that they would work to rebalance our economy, reorient our foreign policy, radically reduce migration, and restore common sense in our schools and universities.
‘That hope – the project of the realignment – has now dwindled. In political terms, it appears the leadership has decided to abandon the voters who switched to us last time, sacrificing the seats we won from Labour in 2019 in the hope of shoring up support elsewhere.’
The New Conservatives vowed to raise funds and recruit supporters to help the group’s members – whether sitting MPs or prospective parliamentary candidates – to fight their campaigns at the next general election.
But they assuaged No10 fears of a full-scale rebellion from the Tory Right by reaffirming their support for Mr Sunak.
‘Like all Conservatives, we want Rishi Sunak to succeed,’ Ms Cates and Mr Kruger said.
The New Conservatives are made up of MPs mainly elected after the Brexit vote in 2016.
The group’s website states they ‘stand for the realignment of British politics: a new era in which Westminster respects the views, values and interests of the British people’.
Their policy goals include the establishment of a new British framework for rights and equalities laws to replace European-inspired legislation.
They also want tax cuts, a reduction in immigration, and the banning of ‘gender ideology in schools’.
As well as Ms Cates and Mr Kruger, they are also led by Sir John Hayes – who is a close ally of Mrs Braverman.
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