Tory MPs insist Rishi Sunak back 'at his best' as Prime Minister battles to keep job

The Prime Minister held a crunch meeting with Tory MPs on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaking during the weekly session of Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday. Photo: JESSICA TAYLOR/UK PARLIAMENT/AFP via Getty Images

Tory MPs have insisted Rishi Sunak is “back at his best” after the Prime Minister held a crunch meeting with the 1922 Committee.

Mr Sunak appeared before Tory backbenchers on Wednesday night amid ongoing speculation about moves to replace him.

However, MPs in the Commons corridor after the event insisted the atmosphere in the room was “great”, with not a single dissenting voice speaking out.

It came as Mr Sunak insisted he would still be Prime Minister after May’s local elections as he dismissed “Westminster gossip” about Tory plots against his leadership.

One Tory MP claimed the “roof nearly went off” as Mr Sunak arrived at the meeting, where he was met with thunderous table-banging.

They said they cheered “as if I were watching a Test match at Lord’s” at the “proper level for an Englishman watching cricket”.

Another said it was “the best we’ve seen him in a while”, with his address an “11/10″.

Tory backbencher Jonathan Gullis gave a speech in the room defending Mr Sunak, with his voice so loud it could be heard in the corridor.

Speaking to journalists after, he insisted there was broad support for Mr Sunak and said he wanted to “call out those idiots for being idiots” when asked about the Prime Minister’s critics.

He said: “A tiny minority of right-wingers are agitating, but it’s certainly no room I’m in.

“I certainly would call out those idiots for being idiots because essentially all they’re doing is guaranteeing a Labour government and that’s the last thing I want.”

He added: “Not a single dissenting voice in that room. I’m aware that there’s a tiny minority of colleagues, but that tiny minority I could probably count on one hand, and that tiny minority does not speak for the overall majority that was just in that room there, that covered the entire spectrum of the Conservative Party.”

Mr Gullis said the mood in the tea rooms this week suggested colleagues were “very upset about the briefings over the weekend” and “it’s distracting their records, it’s distracting from our messaging”.

However, one former minister told The Scotsman the atmosphere was “very flat”, but suggested Mr Sunak had “done enough” to get him past the local elections on May 2.

Another MP said they were “inspired” by the session, but only as they hadn’t turned up.

Elsewhere, Mr Sunak insisted his plan for the country was working and “2024 will prove to be the year that the economy bounces back”.

Speculation is rife that rebel Conservative MPs are lining up potential successors should Mr Sunak face a no confidence test before a general election.

Heavy defeats for the Tories in May’s local elections could heap pressure on Mr Sunak.

But the Prime Minister told the BBC he would still be in No 10 after the local elections because “the things that we are doing are making a difference”.

Mr Sunak was buoyed by a fall in inflation to 3.4 per cent in February, down from 4 per cent in January, with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt hinting the improved economic picture could result in tax cuts and reductions in interest rates – which could improve voters’ finances in the run-up to an election later this year.

The Prime Minister said: “I do believe that at the start of this year we have turned a corner after the shocks of the past few years and we are in a new economic moment and 2024 will prove to be the year that the economy bounces back.”

Plotting rebels have reportedly talked up the prospect of Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt or security minister Tom Tugendhat, both of whom have previously featured in Tory leadership races, replacing Mr Sunak in Downing Street should he face a confidence vote.

Ms Mordaunt is reportedly being considered as a unity candidate who could be acceptable to both the Tory right and moderates if there is a last-ditch change in leaders before the election.

She told reporters on Tuesday she was “getting on with my job”.

Downing Street refused to say whether the Prime Minister had held talks with Ms Mordaunt since the reports first emerged over the weekend.

Mr Sunak’s press secretary said she would not “get into private discussions between colleagues” when asked whether the Prime Minister had spoken to Ms Mordaunt or those calling for a change of leader.

Cabinet minister Esther McVey gave Mr Sunak her full-throated backing, predicting that he would win any potential Tory confidence vote “by a country mile”.

The minister without portfolio told GB News that Ms Mordaunt’s chance of leading the party had “gone to bed” when she “didn’t win” either of the past two leadership battles.

The Conservative Party leader has looked to make hay with the situation facing England’s second city, saying at Prime Minister’s Questions that “taxes are going up by 21 per cent” and that “services are being cut” as the local authority looks to balance its books.

The Labour-run city council in Birmingham declared itself effectively bankrupt in September after identifying equal pay liabilities estimated at £760 million. It is now said to be on a “narrow path to financial sustainability”, dependent on budget cuts.

Labour hit back at Mr Sunak and No 10’s criticism of the opposition party’s record at local and regional authority level.

A party spokesman said: “What we are seeing is the result of the Government having massively underfunded local government as a whole and the responsibilities that local authorities have been left with in that situation to try and make the best of a very difficult situation.”