KEMI Badenoch has urged warring Tory MPs to “stop messing around” and get behind Rishi Sunak amid reports of plots to oust him.
The Business Secretary insisted she did not think there “is very much to these rumours” when asked about speculation some of her colleagues want to see the PM replaced with Penny Mordaunt.
APRishi Sunak vowed that 2024 “will be the year Britain bounces back” in remarks issued by Downing Street on Sunday night[/caption]
She said the Commons Leader has “distanced” herself from the reports and dismissed the plotters to just “one or two people” generating headlines.
The barrage of questions on Tory Party psychodrama comes as the PM is seeking to shift the political debate to the gradually improving economic outlook in an attempt to shore up his leadership.
Launching a fightback, Mr Sunak last night vowed that 2024 “will be the year Britain bounces back”.
He is in for another tough week with his Rwanda Bill returning to the Commons and an appearance before the backbench 1922 committee.
A Tory veteran yesterday told The Sun the “backbench heard is now moving” against Mr Sunak, with “several leadership camps” mobilising rapidly to find a viable new PM.
Asked about the plotters during a series of TV and radio interviews this morning, Ms Badenoch told LBC: “I think she (Penny Mordaunt) has distanced herself…
“I think it is actually very easy for one or two people out of 350 to talk to the papers and generate news headlines.
“There is so much reporting that I read… even about myself, which I know is not true.
“The facts are that the party works very well together.
“Yes, of course, there will be some people who are unhappy I’m not going to… I’m not going to deny that.
“But we need to move away from the scenario where one or two people can create all the news and 300 others can’t get a word in.”
She added: “I’ve said many times that people need to stop messing around and get behind the Prime Minister.”
Referring to her joint visit with the PM at a small business conference in the West Midlands this morning, Ms Badenoch also told the BBC: “I am very happy to be with him this morning, we work well together, I will be supporting him today.
“I don’t think that there is very much to these rumours. It is almost the same thing we have been reading week after week for the last two years.
“And we need to make sure that one or two MPs cannot dominate the news narrative when 350-plus MPs have different views.”
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