Team Rishi fears Tories regard ex-chancellor as ‘Boris betrayer’
SOURCES close to Rishi Sunak’s camp fear the “Boris betrayer” narrative is cutting through with Tory members after a poll found the they think it was wrong to oust the Prime Minister.
The accusation that the former chancellor “stabbed Boris in the back” is seen as a major challenge that he has to overcome in his campaign.
He has been openly challenged on his perceived disloyalty towards the Prime Minister by angry audience members at the opening two hustings in Leeds and Exeter.
The 42-year-old could face pressure to pull out of the race, given the scale of Liz Truss’s apparent lead – although MPS on both sides of the contest have urged him to stay in.
Badly losing a leadership campaign can undermine an MP’S chance of running successfully again. Jeremy Hunt lost comfortably to Boris Johnson in 2019.
His campaign was over within five days due to a lack of support from MPS.
A Conservative minister, who is a close ally of Mr Sunak, said the feeling around his resignation was “a big problem” that has “led to a campaign that has been suboptimal”.
“It’s certainly a narrative that has got a bit of traction amongst members and it’s the old problem that he who wields the knife never wears the crown,” they told The Daily Telegraph.
A Yougov survey of Tory members published on Tuesday found that more than half believe ministers and MPS were wrong to oust Boris Johnson.
It found that 53 per cent disagreed with the mass rebellion that “effectively forced” him to resign, while only 41 per cent thought it was the right move.
And more of the party faithful want the Prime Minister to stay in office than would like to see him replaced by either of the two Tory leadership candidates.
Asked who they thought would make the best leader, 40 per cent said Mr Johnson compared to 28 per cent for Ms Truss and 23 per cent for Mr Sunak.
The survey for The Times, which was conducted over the last five days, found that Ms Truss has opened up a 34 point lead over her rival.
It revealed that members think she is more likely to win an overall Tory majority at the next election and prevent Labour gaining power.
Prof Sir John Curtice, a polling guru, said the former chancellor’s role in bringing down Mr Johnson is “hanging over him” and that polling indicates that he only appeals to a minority of the party base.
Surveys suggest he is ahead among members who voted for Mr Hunt in the last leadership election, while Ms Truss enjoys widespread support from those who backed Mr Johnson.
“Mr Sunak’s problem, of course, is that Remain voters and Hunt supporters are very much minorities among Conservative members,” Sir John said.
“Wherever he currently stands in the race his challenge this week is to strengthen his appeal to the mainstream of his party.”
Whilst two-thirds of the former chancellor’s supporters backed the decision to oust the Prime Minister, two-thirds of those planning to vote for Ms Truss opposed it.
“Against this backdrop, it is not surprising that Tory members believe that Truss will be better able to handle the various issues facing the
Government and is more likely to help the party win a general election,” Sir John told The Times.
Mr Sunak has repeatedly insisted that he was not disloyal to Mr Johnson, arguing that he served faithfully in his Cabinet for two-and-a-half years.
He has said that he resigned after it became clear he and Mr Johnson had different views on the economy and how to manage public spending.
“There’s nothing disloyal about leaving in that circumstance. It’s the right thing to do for the country because people deserve to have those two people united,” he said in Exeter.
Mr Sunak was accused of stabbing the Prime Minister in the back by Matthew Dransfield at the first leadership hustings for Tory members in Leeds last week.
The 47-year-old business consultant later said: “I’m hoping Boris might end up back on the ballot”, describing the Prime Minister as “a cut above” the two candidates in the race.
He said that Mr Sunak’s role in his downfall should effectively exclude him from the leadership.
“I don’t think it’s possible to get over this act he’s committed. I think it’s treacherous. It’s a terrible thing to do and it’s not a good thing for the country at this time. Boris Johnson won a landslide victory,” he added.
But a key member of the former chancellor’s team said he can still win sceptical members over and a delay in sending out ballot papers to them is a boost to his campaign.
Slips were supposed to be sent at the start of this week, but Tory HQ had to put the mailout on hold over concerns the accompanying online voting system was vulnerable to hackers.
“A degree of delay is helpful to us because after all this is a question of opening up these candidates for scrutiny,” David Davis, the former Brexit secretary told Talktv.
He said Ms Truss’s about-turn this week on effectively cutting the pay of public sector workers was the “sort of exposure to challenge” that is an important part of this process “and people will draw conclusions from it”.