Will the Red Wall revolt split the right?

On Monday night Tories gathered on the Terrace Pavilion at parliament for the 1922 Committee’s spring reception, to which every backbencher was invited. The crowd was small, largely made up of Rishi Sunak loyalists eating steak and chips and drinking sparkling wine. The Prime Minister chose not to give opening remarks and instead chatted to the MPs. According to one attendee, the atmosphere was jovial. But no one dared bring up the elephant in the room: Lee Anderson’s defection.

Just hours earlier, the former deputy Tory party chairman held a press conference to announce he was defecting to the Reform party. Even before he started to speak, his former Tory colleagues took pre-emptive steps for his departure by removing him from their various WhatsApp groups. Normally these groups are full of chatter about the smallest developments. This time, they were silent. ‘No one responded for several hours – which is a sign that no one knew what to say – which is rare for us,’ says an MP.