Former defence secretary Ben Wallace has warned that there is “no other alternative” to Rishi Sunak amidst reports of a plot amongst backbench Conservative MPs to depose the prime minister.
Mr Wallace – who has announced his intention to step down as an MP at the next election – called on his colleagues to “march towards the sound of the guns” and put an end to the speculation that they might force a leadership contest.
Speaking to Times Radio, he said: “There comes a moment in time in the electoral cycle where you effectively put on your best suit, you stand up and you march towards the sound of the guns and you get on with it.
“There is no other alternative. And that’s just the reality of it. And some of those people missed the boat. Maybe it’s what they wanted, something different. But ultimately the only victor of this type of shenanigans is the Labour Party. But actually, look we are 14 years into a government, time to put our best case forward, whenever that may be.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has urged colleagues to ‘stick to the plan’
Mr Wallace’s warning comes after a challenging week for Mr Sunak which saw the defection of former Conservative MP Lee Anderson to the Reform UK party, a public row over alleged “racist” comments made by a major Tory donor and disastrous polling results.
The prime minister has had to ward off challenges to his leadership on a number of occasions, but grumblings amongst colleagues last week have fuelled more speculation than ever about his fate.
Business secretary Kemi Badenoch dismissed suggestions of a brewing coup and insisted that the party “works very well together”.
Ms Badenoch said that infighting was “just part and parcel of politics” and that we “need to move away from disagreements being portrayed as plots or rows”.
“The facts are that the party works very well together,” she told LBC. “Yes of course, there will be some people who are unhappy, I’m not going to deny that.”
Mr Wallace also acknowledged unhappiness against Conservative colleagues but called on them to acknowledge Mr Sunak’s successes:
“Rishi Sunak is the prime minister. He set out his plan. He set out his idea and vision, which I think is to effectively, quite rightly, fix the economy, get inflation down. If we get inflation down, we can see interest rates drop.
“Whether colleagues are happy with him or not, it’s too late, right? Get on with it. Stand up. And, you know, at some stage this year, commit to engage in the general election and put our best case forward.”
