Supporters of Grant Shapps are calling Tory MPs testing support for him to replace Rishi Sunak as Tory leader and Prime Minister as “the unity candidate”.
It comes as Tory MPs have told Express.co.uk that Mr Sunak “is on the cusp” of being ousted as leader with polls in freefall and the party staring at the worst defeat in its history in a general election later this year.
The weekend began with briefings to replace Mr Sunak with the popular Leader of the House Penny Mordaunt, a plot she claimed to have no role in.
But a number of Tory MPs have confirmed that they have been contacted by MPs supporting the Defence Secretary Mr Shapps pushing for him to be leader.
One former minister said: “I was contacted earlier asking ‘Are you backing Mordaunt? Surely it has to be Grant? Safe, middle of the road, knows how to run depts, effective communicator, amazing campaigner and he’d get Boris’s backing.’
“I wonder if the Prime Minister knows his Defence Secretary is positioning himself for his job?”
A source close to Mr Shapps denied he is on manouevres to become leader.
The source said: “He’s fully supportive of the PM and thinks it would be bonkers to destabilise the government and change leader and that everyone should pull together behind Rishi.”
This morning Transport Secretary Mark Harper insisted that Mr Sunak will lead his party into the next election.
He said: “What I would say to all my colleagues is this. I spend all my time as Transport Secretary focussing on doing what I think is the right thing for the country, making decisions I think are sensible. That is the approach the Prime Mnister makes as well.
“He makes difficult decisions which are not necessarily popular in the sohrt term. I’m confident those decisions will pay off.”
He added: “We have got a plan, politics is a team game. The plan is working.”
Meanwhile, MPs on the right of the party have made it clear they will not stand aside and allow Ms Mordaunt or Mr Shapps be crowned as a new party leader without a contest.
Express.co.uk understands that former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who is popular with members, is ready to go with a leadership campaign and there may also be a challenge from Robert Jenrick, who recently resigned as a Home Office minister.
One senior MP on the right said: “I don’t think there will be a contest, but if there were the only chance of improving the party’s fortunes are to chose a candidate from the right.
“All the polls show that in this election the party needs to improve its standing on the right with a radically different approach on immigration. That’s the only hope and you need a leader who would do that.”
There are serious concerns about the party losing support on the right to Reform UK with the prospect of Nigel Farage making a comeback to frontline politics.
However, there are some on the right who have said they will back Ms Mordaunt if it means they can be rid of Rishi Sunak.
One MP told Express.co.uk: “I think the Prime Minister is on the cusp of being forced out. The polls are just terrible, there is no plan even if we are told there is one.”
Another Tory MP tells said they would “unhesitatingly” back Penny Mordaunt if it’s the price of ditching Rishi Sunak.
However, it is not clear that the support for Ms Mordaunt is as strong as reported. A friend of Mark Francois, chairman of the European Research Group (ERG) of Brexiteer Tory MPs, was reported to be one of her backers but is actually understood to be “taking his time and considering the options”.
