Why won’t Rishi fire the shadowy £100,000-a-year Tory bruiser who helped bring down Boris – and who is now coming after him?
former Tory Party chairman once muttered to me: ‘ I’m paying Dougie Smith a six-figure sum. I’ve never met him and can’t get to the bottom of what he does.’
Last night, a senior Tory figure told me: ‘It’s not like Dougie Smith has any strategic or political genius, although he can identify hotbutton issues.
‘Most of his power is drawn from the fact many of the people around the Prime Minister have politeness in their genes. Dougie does not. he will stand-up, shout, swear and argue, and people recoil in the face of the noise.’
A senior figure close to Sunak added: ‘No one talks about him and that’s because no one is quite sure what he does or why he’s still around. Everyone says privately that he’s gunning for the boss.
‘he gives the Sheekey plotters a veneer of credibility because most of them are inexperienced kids while he’s had decades in the party. But I don’t know why he’s not been given his marching orders.’ Notoriously, before he became involved with the party and married the considerably younger Munira Mirza, 46, Smith organised groupsex parties.
Some people with links to the Tories were regular attendees, who might be embarrassed if their presence at these events came to light. Does that explain Smith’s enduring power over the Tories, even though the ‘swinger parties’ ended long before Sunak became an MP in 2015?
A third source believes Smith has survived because he hails from Scottish working-class stock and has ‘good political antennae’.
They added: ‘But I think it’s changing. I haven’t seen him near No 10 for months. I’m sure conversations are now being had with the Prime Minister and his team about cutting Dougie Smith off at the knees and ending his links to the Tory Party. And not before time.’
There is real frustration among many Tory MPs that Smith is rocking the boat just as Sunak’s policies are beginning to take shape. The PM is listening intently to Isaac Levido, the canny Australian political strategist who masterminded Johnson’s 2019 landslide victory and will run the next Tory election campaign.
Last week, Levido led the impressively swift fightback against renegade MP – and former minister under Liz Truss – Sir Simon Clarke, who had demanded Sunak’s resignation.
Within minutes, Sunak had received supportive tweets from former Cabinet ministers David Davis, Liam Fox and Priti Patel. Levido is also behind the tougher stance on rail strikes from the PM, who lambasted the train companies for failing to use new legislation to limit the impact of industrial action.
Finally, Levido has been credited with a recent put- down that delighted Tory backbenchers during a recent encounter on Prime Minister’s Questions. Sunak
‘He will shout and swear and people recoil’
quipped that when he sees a group ‘ chanting jihad on our streets,’ he bans them, while Starmer invoices them.
As they drip poison against Sunak, Smith and his young Sheekey plotters have one fatal weakness. They have no obvious candidate.
This week, Kemi was revealed to be a member of a WhatsApp group for Tory MPs called ‘Evil Plotters’ – despite telling party rebels to ‘stop messing around’ and get behind Sunak.
But one of her supporters explained to me that it’s a lighthearted and ironic name.
‘Nobody in their right mind would want the leadership now, it is the ultimate poisoned chalice,’ said my source.
They added: ‘ And if it’s a bad election result, Kemi would surely want Rishi to own it so she starts with a clean slate. Dougie Smith is wasting his time if he thinks the bookmakers’ favourite is ready to step into the breach. She’s not interested. For now.’
It seems that, gold coach or not, Kemi will not be crowned queen of the Tory party any time soon – even if many in the party believe Smith should be sent to the Tower.