Rishi Sunak could face a leadership challenge soon, a Tory bigwig has warned in a stark message amid reports that more Tory MPs are writing letters of no confidence.
This comes as the Prime Minister sought to fight back after a series of blows, including a savage resignation letter from Suella Braverman and the Supreme Court ruling that his flagship Rwanda scheme could not go ahead due to concerns about how migrants woudl be treated.
David Campbell Bannerman, former MEP and now chairman of Conservative Democratic Organisation, told TalkTV: “I think Sunak is in deep trouble actually, I mean you saw the letter yesterday from Suella which was devastating.
“Of course, her point is that he doesn’t actually deliver on his pledges.”
In her brutal resignation letter, the former Home Secretary accused Mr Sunak of “betraying the nation” after he failed to do enough to deliver on promises such as to cut migration and stop small boats crossing the Channel.
Mr Campbell Bannerman said that given Mr Sunak’s failure to fulfill his promises so far, “there are questions” over whether he will deliver.
The Tory grassroots chief added that while the government had “obviously planned for the downside” of sacking Ms Braverman, they have been “shaken into action” by reports of letters of no confidence being filed, which they “didn’t quite expect.”
“It’s a very serious situation for Sunak,” he added, “and he could well face a leadership challenge.”
Dame Andrea Jenkyns, deputy chairwoman of the European Research Group, was the first Tory MP to public announce she was submitting a letter of no confidence – and claimed six others would do the same.
She told GB News: “After Suella’s letter yesterday … I spoke to several colleagues and I know six who have said to me that they’re putting letters in today, so that’s seven we now know about.
“I’ve wrestled with this, the fact that we could look very stupid toppling another leader, but I think we’ve got to bite the bullet now.”
Ms Jenkyns published her letter on X, formerly Twitter, in which she accused the “Machiavellian” Prime Minister of purging the centre-Right from the Government.
53 Conservative MPs would need to send a letter of no confidence to Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbenchers, to trigger a leadership vote.
