Rishi Sunak Is Safe For Now But "Chaos" Lurks Around The Corner

MPs might be absent from Parliament during its three-week recess but questions over Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's position — and whether he will be able to hold out for an autumn general election — have not gone away.

The days and weeks leading up to recess were a torrid time for the Prime Minister, who continues in his attempts to fight off fresh criticism of his operation on an almost weekly basis. The Frank Hester race row, and what one Downing Street insider recently admitted was a bungled No 10 response to the Tory donor's racist remarks about opposition MP Diane Abbott, marked the latest.

Tories had hoped that a second National Insurance cut in the Spring Budget might win them some favour, but in the end it appeared to fall flat with voters, fuelling further backbench restlessness. 

For months Sunak allies have insisted the gap between the Conservatives and Labour – which continues to enjoy double-digit leads – would narrow, but in reality, the opposite has happened. 

On Monday, a new Redfield & Wilton poll put Labour 24 per cent ahead. If replicated at the next general election, which must be called before the end of this year, this would mean a heavy defeat for the current governing party and a large majority for Keir Starmer.

Constant Tory woes have been accompanied by regular calls from more radical wings of the party to roll the dice on selecting a new leader rather than go into the election with a doomed Sunak at the party's helm.

But as things stand, the number of Conservative MPs who want to replace Sunak with the party's fourth leader and the country's fourth prime minister since 2019 remains very small. While many backbenchers feel dejected and pessimistic about their electoral prospects, the vast majority of