Rishi Sunak secured public statements from more than half of Conservative MPs ahead of today’s 2pm nomination deadline. According to the Guardian’s tally of public endorsements, as of 11.30am. Rishi Sunak had the support of 182 MPs, equivalent to 51% of the total number of Conservative seats in parliament. A dozen of those who previously supported Boris Johnson have now publicly switched allegiance to Sunak, including current or former cabinet ministers James Cleverley, Nahim Zahawi and Priti Patel. Just two Johnson supporters have switched to Penny Mordaunt: Michael Fabricant and Giles Watling, bringing her known total to 27, although her camp claims she has more than 90 supporters, including those who have not declared publicly. Updated at 12.03 BST Important events BETA filters Key events (16)Rishi Sunak (29)Boris Johnson (29)Penny Mordaunt (18)Liz Truss (12)Helen Sullivan (4) Tory MP Damian Collins, who supports Penny Mordaunt, is interviewed on Radio 4’s World at One. Asked if he would be pulling out of the contest, he refused to rule it out. She said a lot of work was being done to get her “over the line”. He said he had more than 90 nominations. She said some of her supporters felt it was important for members to have a chance to have a say on a ballot. There are 45 minutes left for nominations to close. ITV political editor Robert Peston says Penny Mordaunt is being urged by supporters to withdraw from the contest with dignity. Mordaunt is not yet 100. Frantic calls for increased support, but colleagues urge her to leave with dignity intact. I’m guessing he’ll make a statement saying he’s retiring in the next hour or so. Not clear. Lindsom’s manager wants to keep fighting — Robert Peston (@Peston) October 24, 2022 Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader who backed Liz Truss for the leadership in the summer, says he is now backing Rishi Sunak. It is time to end the leadership contest and get a prime minister as soon as possible. I have come to the decision that senior experience at the heart of government matters more. For this purpose I will support @RishiSunak. — Iain Duncan Smith MP (@MPIainDS) October 24, 2022 Reporters outside 10 Downing Street today. Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth/APSeverin Carrell David Mundell, the former Scottish secretary who backed Liz Truss’s leadership bid, said he mistakenly thought she would be a “boring and crazy” prime minister until she “poured a bucket of petrol over everything”. Mundell, who is seen as the great survivor of the Scottish Tory party after becoming its sole MP in 2005 by winning Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale by 1,738 votes, introduced Truss to party members at the Perth leadership in September. Holding the constituency at all four subsequent general elections, securing a majority of 3,781 in 2019, the collapse of Tory support since the Truss’ disastrous mini-budget suggests it is in very real danger of losing the seat. She is now backing her rival Rishi Sunak, preferring him to Penny Mordaunt and Boris Johnson, “because he is the only viable candidate to stabilize the situation”. Asked why he failed to do so the first time, Mundell maintains that he made a genuine mistake: I obviously didn’t think things would turn out the way they did. I thought she would be boring and crazy and hard-working, and she would be an antidote to Johnson. I honestly thought he was in a better position to unite the party than Rishi – obviously there was a large group of people at that stage who were hostile to him – but none of that happened. One: he poured a bucket of gasoline over everything. two, he made absolutely no effort to work with the parliamentary party. Asked if he regretted supporting Truss, he said: My opinion is [Truss’s term in office] it didn’t work the way i expected it to. What we need to do now is move on. We need to stabilize the situation. Rishi Sunak is best placed to do this in the interest of the country. I hope he brings the professionalism to the office necessary to make it happen. Updated at 12.56 BST
The Tory ERG refuses to back either Sunak or Mordaunt, but says both have pledged to take a “very strong” line on the NI protocol
The European Research Group, which strongly represents the pro-Brexit Tories, met today to discuss whether to back Rishi Sunak or Penny Mordaunt for the leadership. The ERG was a very strong community body in Tory circles in the year of Brexit and its support for Boris Johnson in 2019 was a major boost to his campaign. If Brexiter MPs had united behind an alternative candidate, Johnson may never have reached the party ballot. But the ERG is a far less influential group now because its members are divided over issues such as Liz Truss’s leadership and whether Boris Johnson should return. In a briefing this morning, Marc Francois, its president, told reporters that he does not support either Sunac or Mordad. But Francois said Sunak and Mordaunt had both assured a delegation from the ERG when they met this morning that they were committed to the Northern Ireland protocol – and that, if necessary, they would use an Act of Parliament to push it through in the House of Lords. Here are the key lines from Francois’ briefing.
Francois said the ERG believed the party had “one, and potentially two, extremely strong choices to be leader of the Conservative party”. However, he said the group could not collectively agree to support any candidate. He did not say whether Sunak or Mordaunt was the candidate they only considered “potentially” strong.
Some of us, having spoken to both potential candidates this morning, were equally adamant that they would, if he became Prime Minister, take a very strong line on the Northern Ireland protocol, up to and including, if necessary, using Act of Parliament to ensure that the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill is on the statute book.
Sunak did not give the ERG a firm commitment to increase defense spending to 3 percent of GDP, Francois said. He said Mordaunt did say her target was to get defense spending to 3% of GDP, but that would only happen when economic conditions allowed.
Marc Francois, ERG president (second from right), speaking to the media. Photo: Sky News Updated at 12.58 BST And Chris Heaton-Harries, the Northern Ireland Secretary, is also backing Rishi Sunak. He was a leading supporter of Boris Johnson and was just yesterday sending messages to Johnson supporters saying Johnson would be on the ballot today. Now is the time to put aside our political differences and come together to address the issues facing our country. I will play my part in this by supporting @RishiSunak — Chris Heaton-Harris MP (@chhcalling) October 24, 2022 Brandon Lewis, the justice secretary, has backed Rishi Sunak for the Tory leadership. In a time of acute challenge, we must unite and unite. It is clear that the majority of our parliamentary party supports @RishiSunak to be our next PM. He has the necessary expertise and experience to do so and will have my full support in doing so. — Brandon Lewis (@BrandonLewis) October 24, 2022
More than half of Tory MPs now back Sunak to be party leader and next prime minister
Pamela Duncan Rishi Sunak secured public statements from more than half of Conservative MPs ahead of today’s 2pm nomination deadline. According to the Guardian’s tally of public endorsements, as of 11.30am. Rishi Sunak had the support of 182 MPs, equivalent to 51% of the total number of Conservative seats in parliament. A dozen of those who previously supported Boris Johnson have now publicly switched allegiance to Sunak, including current or former cabinet ministers James Cleverley, Nahim Zahawi and Priti Patel. Just two Johnson supporters have switched to Penny Mordaunt: Michael Fabricant and Giles Watling, bringing her known total to 27, although her camp claims she has more than 90 supporters, including those who have not declared publicly. Updated at 12.03 BST
Mordaunt’s campaign source claims she has 90 endorsements – but only around 30 have publicly endorsed her
Penny Mordaunt’s campaign claims she now has the backing of 90 Tory MPs. A campaign source told reporters: We are now past 90. For the sake of the party, it is important that our members have their say. If Mordaunt has received 90 endorsements, that would be about three times as many private endorsements as the number of public endorsements she has. It is possible that the campaign is being exaggerated in the hope of getting more supporters to back it by the 2pm deadline for nominations. It is possible that the 90 Tories have given Mordaunt some kind of commitment – maybe conditional on something, or maybe commitments they won’t keep. (Nominations are made privately, so an MP can tell a candidate he will nominate them, but then “forget” to sign the paperwork.) Or it’s possible that Mordaunt actually has 90 good nominations. However, some MPs are wary. This is from Henry Zeffman of the Times. The Mordaunt campaign now claims to have 90 MPs💥 (24 names are public, one of which called for her to retire) — Henry Zeffman (@hzeffman) October 24, 2022
Mordaunt supporter George Freeman suggests it might be best for Tory MPs to rally behind Sunak
The FT’s Sebastian Payne reckons Penny Mordaunt’s supporters are divided over whether she should concede and quit the competition today. It sounds like Team Mordaunt is in deep trouble right now. Dame Andrea Leadsom is urging her to fight on and try to get to 100, but other supporters of the Prime Minister are calling on her to end the contest today – pointing out with so many MPs behind Sunak, any victory would be pyrrhic. — Sebastian Payne (@SebastianEPayne) October 24, 2022 As proof, Payne cites these tweets from George Freeman, science…
