‘It’s not just backbench Conservative MPs who expect ministers to pull together behind May: the great swathe of the electorate which either voted Leave, or voted Remain but recognises that a united team will achieve a better trading relationship for the future than a divided one, expects it too.’
This is the warning Graham Brady issued to badly behaved Tory ministers over the weekend. Writing in the Guardian, the chair of the all-powerful 1922 committee of backbench Tory MPs, presented the feuding Cabinet with a choice: get behind May or prepare for a Corbyn victory at the next election similar to 1997. This isn’t the first time Brady has had to speak out in a bid to get his party to take a minute to breathe before going into self-destruct mode. But it’s safe to say things are particularly fraught in the Conservative party at present.
The Sunday Times reports that 20 Tory MPs are preparing leadership bids should May fall, though one minister tells me that figure isn’t quite right – it’s more like 40.
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