Tory MPs Cling To Hope That Calls For Rishi Sunak To Go Will Not "Cut Through" To Voters

A number of Conservative MPs are holding on to hope that former cabinet minister Simon Clarke's call for Rishi Sunak to be replaced as Prime Minister will not "cut through" with voters and have at least "united" most wings of the Conservative Party against another leadership election.

On Tuesday evening Clarke wrote an explosive op-ed for the Telegraph in which he called for Sunak to be removed as Prime Minister after claiming he was an “anchor” on the party's electoral prospects. The Tories have consistently been trailing Labour in the polls for over a year and are widely expected to lose the next general election, due this year.

Clarke, who was a staunch ally of former prime minister Liz Truss, and served in her fleeting government, claimed Sunak did not get “what Britain needs” and that to stick with Sunak would "give the Left a blank cheque to change Britain as they see fit”.

But several Conservative MPs believe that Clarke's opinion piece has achieved the opposite effect and has hardened the parliamentary party against the idea of holding another leadership challenge prior to the next general election. 

"I suspect this may deter others from following such a reckless, defeatist call for yet another leadership campaign so close to a general election," Former minister Tobias Ellwood, Conservative MP for Bournemouth East, told PoliticsHome.

"If he had hoped to rally others to his cause I suspect he actually helped the Party unify around Rishi Sunak."

A Tory MP on the moderate wing of the party felt confident Clarke's comments would not "cut through" to the public and was "Westminster bubble nonsense". "[Sunak should] ignore it and get on with his work, which is what I think he will do," they added. 

A senior Conservative,