Sunak tries to put a stop to the plots

Rishi Sunak goes into the week hoping it will be better than the one that came before. Last week, the Prime Minister suffered one of his worst weeks since entering 10 Downing Street with Lee Anderson defecting to Reform, a racism row over a donor, and MPs on the right discussing whether they ought to oust Sunak and crown his former leadership rival Penny Mordaunt as his successor. It means that – once again – journalists are close to using the word ‘febrile’ when it comes to the mood in the Tory party.

The weekend has been largely made up of briefings and counter briefings about the Prime Minister. Penny Mordaunt’s supporters are keen to talk down the idea that she is actively courting plotting MPs. Sunak’s allies are accusing those MPs on the right of not actually wanting Mordaunt to take over but instead tricking centrist MPs into backing an attempt to remove Sunak only for a candidate on the right to win.