Who Is The Powerful New Chair Of The 1922 Committee?

While the Conservative Party was hammered at last week's General Election, Bob Blackman was able to increase his majority. He will now play a crucial role in determining how the next Tory leader will be chosen.

On Tuesday night Bob Blackman became chair of the 1922 Committee.

Replacing Sir Graham Brady after fourteen years in the role, Blackman beat Geoffrey Clifton-Brown in a vote of Tory MPs by 24 votes.

“Thank you to my colleagues for voting for me …I’m delighted that we can now start rebuilding our party,” he told those in committee room 14 following his election.

The MP for Harrow East has served on the 1922 Committee’s executive since 2015 and was touted as CCHQ’s favourite in the contest.

Blackman is planning to review the proportion of MPs it takes to trigger a Tory leadership contest. The level is currently at 15 per cent, which comes to just 18 MPs following the party's heavy defeat at the General Election. He wants to ensure party members have their say in any leadership race.

One new MP said the two candidates' pitches were “effectively the same”, putting forward “a long leadership campaign to let people set their stalls and try to keep Rishi [Sunak] on in the meantime”.

Another newly elected MP shared their views and that it was “a good sign that the party is in agreement about the steps forward”.

Not all MPs were satisifed with the process, however. 

Mark Francois angrily accused Blackman of lacking a "proper mandate" in a parliament bar confrontation after mixed messaged to Tory MPs meant some of them arrived too late to cast a vote.

“Honest to God, do it [the vote] again,” Francois said. “Otherwise, people will say you haven’t got a proper mandate.”

Blackman is viewed “with admiration” for having pulled off the