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TORY chairman Sir Patrick McLoughlin faced calls to resign today as MPs demanded blood over Theresa May’s party conference speech shambles.
One furious backbencher told the Standard: “Patrick is a Filofax chairman. We need a Facebook chairman. He should have resigned the day after the disastrous election night. He should now be sacked.”
Another said: “Somebody has to take responsibility for the shambles of the past week, frankly. Everyone likes Patrick but he has completely f***ed up. The word is that he tried to resign after the election but she got him to stay on.”
Friends of Sir Patrick say he is feeling bruised by the attacks and fear he is being set up as the fall guy to take responsibility for yesterday’s speech, which was interrupted by a prankster and Mrs May’s coughing fit. They say he is a party loyalist and would resign without fuss if the Prime Minister asked him to — but they also point out that he opposed her disastrous decision to hold the snap election in June.
Mrs May’s former aide Nick Timothy said this week’s party conference had failed to address the key challenges of Brexit and the electorate’s desire for change. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, he said: “Confronted with these challenges the Conservatives failed to rise to the occasion at their conference, just as they have failed to do so since the election result sparked their crisis of confidence.”
The knives are also out for Boris Johnson, whose headline-
hogging behaviour overshadowed the conference. Several MPs are understood to have asked for it to be discussed by the 1 92 2 C o m m i t t e e executive on Wednesday next week.
Downing Street was saying nothing, and there was speculation among MPs that Sir Patrick, the well-liked former coal miner who has served four prime ministers as a minister, will emerge as a fall-guy for a catastrophic series of mishaps that turned Mrs May’s fightback speech into a fiasco.
Cabinet minister Greg Clark, an ultra loyalist, praised the Prime Minister’s “guts and grace” when her speech was derailed by a prankster who handed her a P45, a cold that left her spluttering and croaking, and bits dropping off the stage set.
But Business Secretary Mr Clark made little attempt to defend Sir Patrick.
He said it was a “serious incident” that comedian Simon Brodkin got within touching distance of the Prime Minister and pointed out “that could have been someone with violent intent”.
When asked if the chairman was cul- pable, he said: “I don’t know what part of the weakness of the system it was, but it clearly needs to be established.”
Brandon Lewis, the Immigration Minister, was reported to be a potential replacement as chairman.
Critics of Mr Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, say his behaviour will be debated as part of an inquest into the conference next week.
A 1922 Committee executive member said: “There were mutterings within the parliamentary party about him making comments before his speech. I think he saved himself by his speech, which showed he still has a huge amount of popularity.
“We will be having a post mortem on Wednesday about all of this. Boris will definitely come up.”
A senior Tory MP said: “Boris Johnson
is in serious trouble. A lot of the MPs feels he hijacked the conference.
“I wouldn’t underestimate the anger that has been felt towards him. The self-serving indulgent behaviour. We haven’t got a Foreign Secretary at the moment and he didn’t give a speech on foreign affairs.”
Some MPs say there is talk of getting 48 backbenchers to write to 1922 chairman Sir Graham Brady asking him to seek Boris’s resignation.
The senior Tory said: “This is unprecedented. There has never been a situation before where they want a cabinet secretary sacked.” About 30 MPs are said to have indicated they could form a delegation to ask Mrs May to step down. However, Mr Clark insisted there was no mood in the party for a leadership challenge.
“A lot of the people who were there in the hall and watching it on TV will have admired, frankly, the guts and the grace the PM showed,” he told Today.
A number of Cabinet ministers telephoned the Prime Minister after her speech to promise their backing.
Backbencher Mark Pritchard tweeted that a “small number” of colleagues
were on manoeuvres. Today he tweeted: “Attempts to drum up a delegation of 30 MPs to try & force PM out — will fail. Also cowardly. If any MPs want her out — there is 1922 process.”
With no agreement on a new permanent leader, some MPs think a caretaker such as David Davis or Sir Michael Fallon could replace Mrs May until after Brexit in March 2019.
Some even think Father of the House Kenneth Clarke might make way for Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson by quitting his safe seat and forcing a byelection.