Inside Sunak’s meeting with MPs on his Rwanda ‘Plan B’

Rishi Sunak made an impromptu appearance at the 1922 committee tonight as he sought to sell his ‘Plan B’ on Rwanda to restive Tory MPs. This evening the government published the Bill – which asserts that ministers have the power to ignore judgments from Strasbourg but stops short at ‘disapplying’ the ECHR. This means it doesn’t go as far as what former home secretary Suella Braverman called for. Speaking to MPs, Sunak said it was the furthest the government could go, as had they gone ‘one inch further’ and ousted the courts entirely, the Rwandan government would not have backed it and there would be no Rwanda scheme to action.

The Prime Minister argued to MPs that the Bill – which disapplies sections of the Human Rights Act – offers the Tories a chance to unite and take the fight to Labour. According to one attendee, Sunak repeatedly used the phrase ‘unite or die’ – a phrase he used when he first became prime minister.