Weary Tories Sense PopCon Is An "Early Marker" In Battle For The Party's Soul

The launch of a new, right-wing Conservative movement on Tuesday laid bare the struggle for the heart of the Tory party that potentially awaits after the next general election, expected to take place this year.

Numerous Tory MPs, commentators and party members gathered in Westminster's Emmanuel Centre on Tuesday morning for the launch of Popular Conservatism — a campaign focussed on "freedom" that aims to push the Conservative party closer towards principles like lower tax, stricter immigration rules and protecting free speech from "woke" culture.

The speakers included former prime minister Liz Truss, ex-Cabinet minister Jacob Rees Mogg and Lee Anderson, who until recently was deputy chairman of the Conservative party. Former Home Secretary Priti Patel and senior Tory Jake Berry were in the audience, as was former UKIP leader Nigel Farage.

However, the campaign's insistence that it is focused on promoting ideas, rather than a change in party leadership, has failed to quell a feeling that Tory MPs involved have one eye on who will be next to lead the Tories after Rishi Sunak if, as expected, the party loses the next general election. One former minister observed the MPs in attendance laying an "early marker" in preparation for the blame game that is expected to follow a Tory defeat. 

The same senior Tory noted that former home secretary Patel, seen by some Conservative MPs as a dark horse to win the Tory leadership from the right of the party at the next time there is a contest, was sat on the front row at Tuesday's launch.

A number of Conservative MPs have expressed horror at statements made by the senior Tories who addressed the launch. "They are not Conservative, though they may have been elected under a Conservative