Rishi Sunak has sought to unify his fractious party ahead of what could be a brutal set of local elections, urging his MPs to ignore dissenting voices and present a coherent front. The prime minister’s address to the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers gave the appearance of agreement, with much of the traditional banging of desks and no public criticism, although some attenders doubted how genuine it all was. In a meeting lasting nearly an hour, taking place as the government lost a series of votes in the Lords on its flagship bill to declare Rwanda a safe country to which to deport asylum seekers, Sunak made a lengthy speech and answered a series of questions. A senior MP on the right of the party said the meeting was “all very positive” and that the prime minister was cheerful enough to crack a couple of jokes. They said that when MPs had finished their desk-banging to welcome the prime minister, Sunak joked: “I know you’re not applauding me, you’re applauding the chief whip who’s letting you leave on a one-line whip.” But in a sign that not everyone was onside, another MP said there was a “fair bit of sycophancy” at the meeting and that “some of it may be organised”. A third MP said: “I remember when Theresa May was at death’s door politically and going to a 1922 meeting and the noise was even louder than on this occasion. It’s a very devious bunch of people.” And while some MPs stressed unity, one note of discord in the meeting came when former minister and party chair Jake Berry complained that while he had been loyal, Downing Street had falsely briefed that he was involved in plots.
The prime minister has faced a difficult week following days of coverage about supposed plots against him by MPs convinced he is leading them to a catastrophic election defeat, and was aiming to lift spirits before next week’s Easter recess. The Conservatives are expected to launch their campaign for the local elections on 2 May later this week. Defending 900-plus seats and 18 councils, they are widely expected to lose a significant number of both. But while there are Tory MPs who are open about wanting Sunak ousted, thus far they number just a handful. Even some not habitually supportive of the prime minister were keen on Wednesday to stress the need for unity. Jonathan Gullis, who rebelled against Sunak on the Rwanda bill in January and served as a minister under Liz Truss, told reporters after the meeting that the prime minister’s critics needed to “grow up”. The Stoke-on-Trent North MP said he wanted to “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: “I’m knocking on doors, and when I’m talking about what I’ve done, people are saying, ‘Great, but’ – and I’m sick of hearing the ‘but’ that follows, because they’re talking about what’s happening with the party here in Westminster. People don’t vote for divided parties.” Asked what Sunak had told his MPs, Gullis said: “Here’s a long list of things that we’ve delivered, here’s a long list of successes that we’ve had. A tiny minority is seeking to undermine him and brief against him, and they’re not hurting him, they’re hurting everyone in the parliamentary party. “So it’s time to grow up and pull together – grow up is my word, not his.”