Katy Balls Katy Balls

Inside the plot to take down Rishi Sunak

issue 10 February 2024

Westminster and its drinking holes have always been a fertile ground for conspirators. There was the dead sheep coup against Margaret Thatcher, the curry house conspiracy against Tony Blair, the great goose plot against Gordon Brown and the pork pie putsch to oust Boris Johnson.

Now that Rishi Sunak has the worst approval ratings of any prime minister in an election year, it’s inevitable he should be the target of a new plot. The Tories have become the party of regicide. The dispatching of Liz Truss was carried out with record-breaking speed. When things get bad, the Tories change leader. It’s the party’s natural reflex.

‘If you are working on a plot, you don’t go around telling everyone. That’s plotting 101’

For many, the idea of removing Sunak is mad. An election is just months away, Labour is 20 points ahead in the polls and its main attack line is that the Tories are a feuding rabble.

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