Badenoch appeals for Tory unity as report says Sunak might trigger election to avert leadership challenge – UK politics live

Good morning. Rishi Sunak is in fightback mode this morning, seeking to reassert his authority after what might have been his worst week as Tory leader and reports of new threats to his leadership.

You may feel you have read that sentence before on a Monday. And I’m afraid it is likely, before we head towards the general election, that you will read it again. Sunak’s premiership is stuck in a spiral of despair. But there are three features of what is happening this morning that make today’s crisis Monday different from previous ones.

1) A Sunak ally has floated the prospect of the PM calling an election if necessary as a means of averting a leadership contest. In their Times splash, Steven Swinford and Oliver Wright report:

A senior ally of the prime minister said that Sunak’s critics underestimate his resolve. They said that he would be prepared to call a general election if rebels force a leadership contest.

“He’s increasingly determined to prove his point and establish his own mandate,” they said. “You don’t get to achieve the things he’s done without some steel. He’s not just going to roll over.

“People should be careful what they wish for. It’s up to them. If they don’t want an election they should stop messing about. Rishi could easily say ‘OK, if that’s the mood of the party I don’t think it’s fair to put it to another leadership contest’. He can say reasonably he might just go to the palace instead.”

This is the first time No 10 has floated this prospect. It is only one quote, but it is from serious journalists in a serious paper, and there is a risk it could backfire, provoking Sunak’s critics rather than quelling them. He may get asked about this later.

2) Sunak is betting everything on economic recovery. According to extracts from his speech briefed in advance, he will say:

There is now a real sense that the economy is turning a corner with all the economic indicators pointing in the right direction.

This year, 2024, will be the year Britain bounces back.

Inflation has more than halved, with the OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) forecasting it will hit its 2% target in just a few months’ time, a full year ahead of what they were forecasting just a few months ago.

3) No 10 has deployed Kemi Badenoch, the business secretary, to deliver a unity message this morning. Badenoch is seen as favourite to succeed Sunak after the next election, and she regularly makes interventions that imply she is not loyal to his policy agenda. But this morning she had a rare outing as the government spokesperson on the media round, and she used it to urge Tory plotters to support the PM. She told LBC:

I have said many times that people need to stop messing around and get behind the prime minister.

But I think at this particular time, it is really important that we remember that there are thousands of councillors all around the country who are going to be standing for election in May. We need people to focus on what they have been doing to help their local communities and not be obsessed with Westminster psychodrama …

I’m here in Coventry in the West Midlands, look at what is happening with auto, they have had so much investment under [Conservative West Midlands mayor] Andy Street. That is what I want people to know about rather than who said what in the tea room in parliament. It is just Westminster bubble gossip, it is not important.

Badenoch also used her interviews to defend Penny Mordaunt, the leader of the Commons, from claims that she is actively plotting to undermine Sunak. “I’m sure if Penny was here, she would be distancing herself from those comments,” Badenoch said. But Mordaunt is one of Badenoch’s main rivals in the contest to be next Tory leader and implicit in this comment was a suggestion that, if Mordaunt really has nothing to do with the plot against Sunak reported over the weekened, perhaps she should say so on the record herself.

Here is the agenda for the day.

10.30am: Rishi Sunak is giving a speech on the economy in Warwickshire, where he is also doing a Q&A to promote government plans to reform the apprenticeship system.

11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

After 3.30pm: MPs debate Lords amendments to the safety of Rwanda (asylum and immigration) bill.

Also, Sadiq Khan is launching his campaign today for re-election as London’s mayor.

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