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LONDON. – Incoming prime minister Rishi Sunak could be forced out as Conservative leader by disgruntled Boris Johnson loyalists within six months, according to Labour.
It comes as some Tory supporters have cancelled their memberships after Sunak was named as Liz Truss’s successor, with one saying they felt the party had been “destroyed from within”.
While some grassroots Tories felt “delighted” by the news, others said the move has left them “fuming” that members were not able to vote for candidates to take over at No 10.
Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said Johnson supporters in the Commons would continue the “chaos” of rebellion, as he repeated the opposition’s call for a general election.
“The public are clamouring for a say,” he told BBC Two’s Newsnight.
“The Conservative Party is a sclerotic mess. They are chaotic.
“And who’s to say Rishi Sunak isn’t going to be out in six months’ time because you can hear the knives sharpening in Westminster of the disgruntled Borisites … who still think Rishi knifed Boris Johnson in the back.”
Sunak yesterday entered No 10 as the UK’s first Hindu prime minister, the first of Asian heritage, and the youngest for more than 200 years at the age of 42.
But Johnson loyalists have questioned his mandate. Nadine Dorries said Sunak faces “a very difficult situation” because he “didn’t have a mandate from the public to lead the Conservative Party”.
She told TalkTV: “What Boris Johnson knew about Partygate, Rishi knew. Rishi was fined as well … Why do you think Boris is more guilty of Partygate than Rishi is?”
Former Tory PMs David Cameron and Theresa May were quick to congratulate the incoming PM.
Johnson did so later. Johnson though did complain on Sunday that his ex-chancellor would not “come together in the national interest” with him.
Calling for unity behind Sunak, Iain Duncan Smith said Johnson had been “begging people for votes” in a “demeaning” Tory leadership bid before withdrawing on Sunday night.
Tamara Wood, chair of Telford Conservative Association, said she was angry at the Sunak “coronation” after being installed by the parliamentary party.
“I have to say the membership, the officers, and some of our current counsellors and candidates are very unhappy,” she told Radio 4’s Today programme.
Ben Harris-Quinney, head of the right-wing Bow Group think tank, said tens of thousands of members will leave the party.
“The fact that it was a coronation is a terrible advert for the Conservative Party and the nation,” he said.
Samuel Jukes, a retail worker Tory member from Birmingham who supports Mr Johnson, said a general election should now be called as Sunak “has no mandate”.
“I’m fuming right now, we never voted for Rishi Sunak,” the 33-year-old said.
“Rishi has no mandate. Right now I’m ashamed to be a Conservative member.”
Lyn Bond, a 60-year-old retired nurse, cancelled her membership after Mordaunt failed to receive 100 nominations and it was confirmed Sunak will lead the party without a contest.
“It has been destroyed from within,” Bond told the PA news agency. “
I can’t bring myself after 40 years to support them anymore, I don’t trust them. Very unsettling … It’s insidious the way they’ve got Rishi Sunak in – they wanted him in, and he’s in.”
But some members of Conservative associations as well as local councillors said they were “delighted” by how the contest played out. – The Independent
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter