It looks like the sniping has already begun here at Tory party conference. On Tuesday, Liz Truss decided to use the event as a vehicle to launch her ‘Great British Growth Rally’ – an attempt to push the party to reduce the size of the state.
That has not gone down well though with some of her colleagues, who’ve seen it as an attempt to undermine Rishi Sunak. Chief critic has been Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen, who said ahead of the rally that he wished Truss had ‘more awareness’ and stayed away.
Yesterday, Houchen went further at a panel hosted by the Centre for Policy Studies and CapX. At the event he issued a blunt message to Tory rebels seeking to undermine the PM, telling them to: ‘shut up and get out of the way’:
‘I would encourage the very small number of Conservative MPs who seem to be using conference and the recent months to cause difficulty to Rishi Sunak and his government to shut up, get out of the way and let Rishi Sunak set a vision for this country that people will be able to buy into and see a better future with a Conservative government.
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