Nigel Jones

The Tory wars haven’t gone away

The Conservative benches are chock-a-block with the disappointed and the resentful

Rishi Sunak told the Tories to ‘unite or die’ as he took office this week. Some of his party colleagues appear to be pursuing the latter option. It hasn’t taken long for Conservative MPs to resume the civil war that has brought the party to its current parlous and deeply divided state.

First came an open clash in the Commons chamber between Jacob Rees-Mogg and fellow Tory Richard Graham, the MP for Gloucester. Not waiting for his inevitable sacking as business secretary, Rees-Mogg had only just finished penning his handwritten resignation letter on Tuesday when he accused Graham of never having accepted Brexit. Graham angrily denied the charge as ‘utterly untrue’ and Rees-Mogg courteously withdrew. But this opening skirmish between the warring Tory factions was gave a taste of bigger battles to come.

Next up was an unprecedented spat between Jake Berry and Worthing MP Tim Loughton. Clearly smarting after his dismissal by Sunak as Tory party chairman, Berry had accused Suella Braverman of committing previous breaches of national security during her first stint as Home Secretary before her resignation over the issue a week ago.

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