After a bruising few weeks for Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister this evening appeared before the 1922 committee of Tory backbenchers to make his case. As MPs prepare to go into the Easter recess, Sunak tried to encourage his party to unite rather than descend further into plotting.
He told MPs:
This battle will define us, when the going got tough, when the polls were against us did we dig deep and fight or did we turn in on ourselves?
I know that the overwhelming majority of people in this room are determined to fight: to stand up for our values, our vision and our record.
He added that the local elections were a critical point for the party: ‘We have a chance in these local elections to puncture Labour’s arrogance, to show that we Conservatives are going to fight.’
As one MP puts it: ‘The longer the banging, the more the leader is in trouble’.
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