Veteran Tory Tells MPs To "Get Their Act Together" And Unite Behind Rishi Sunak

Former cabinet minister David Lidington has said that the government and Conservative MPs must "get their act together" and start behaving in the “national interest” rather than sniping at one another if the party is to have any chance of winning this year’s general election.

Before stepping down as an MP in 2019, Lidington held a number of cabinet positions under Theresa May’s premiership, including as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, as well as being in the shadow cabinet between 2002 and 2007. Having served as MP for Aylesbury since 1992, he was a key political player across a period that saw the Conservative Party's fortunes fluctuate considerably.

Giving his assessment of the turmoil that Tories endured last year, Lidington told PoliticsHome that while unexpected events, such as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, had “made life difficult” for the government, divisions within the party would pose the biggest issue for the Tories in the run up to the general election, which must be called before the end of this year.

“When you have Conservative MPs rallying with each other and briefing the press that they want to replace the Prime Minister in his first year in office, all the public notices is that the Conservative Party is one where the MPs don't seem to like each other very much, so why should we trust them?” Lidington said.

“A party that's divided and squabbling amongst itself is never going to win the confidence of the electorate.”

He argued that voters only want to spend a limited amount of time thinking about politics, and that recently that limited time has been “taken up listening to internal squabbles within the Conservative Party”, rather than hearing the government clearly set out its achievements and