Tory chairmanship remains vacant as it ‘only appeals to lightweight careerists’
THE Conservative chairmanship has been drained of so much of its power that it no longer appeals to big names in the party, senior Tories believe.
Priti Patel, the former home secretary, is pushing for the role to be restored to its former glory as she fears only “lightweight careerists” would accept it in its current form.
A source close to Ms Patel, who is popular with the Tory grassroots, said accepting the job would make sense to her only if she was given the capacity to “actually make an impact”.
Bringing her back into the fray would be a “shrewd move” to unite the party and shore up the Prime Minister’s mandate to lead, they said. But for now she considers the chairmanship “too weak” to achieve the necessary changes.
“Anyone taking it will get the blame in May – only a lightweight careerist would want that if the role is actually impotent,” the source said. Another former Cabinet minister said they thought it was crucial that the job “matures”, as it had been “downgraded” over time.
“I think that the party chairman should have a say in policy in the run-up to the next election,” they said.
“I think it has been downgraded… The most important thing is it’s a role that senior players would want to do.” The chairman post remains conspicuously vacant, half a week after Nadhim Zahawi was sacked over his tax affairs, with no clear frontrunner in view.
Often when Cabinet posts are vacated, the replacement is announced on the day, or swiftly follows, but no such announcement has been made since the news of Mr Zahawi’s exit broke on Sunday. One Tory heavyweight – Lord Hague – has ruled himself out, while allies of Penny Mordaunt, the Commons leader, have played down her chances.
Brandon Lewis, a former Cabinet minister, had also been tipped for the role, but he is said to feel he has done the job already, having held the post for 18 months from 2018 to 2019.
No10 dismissed as “speculation” that Mr Sunak was struggling to fill the vacancy yesterday. Asked why nobody had yet been appointed to replace Mr Zahawi, his press secretary said that it was taking “a bit of time to make sure that it is the right person” chosen for the “important role”.
She refused to comment on private conversations when pressed on whether anyone had rejected the job.
Ms Patel is understood to be keen on the post only if the chairmanship is bolstered with powers reminiscent of the Thatcher era.