How Rishi Sunak won over the Tories of West Suffolk

‘I’ve cancelled my exercise class for this! I hope he’s worth it,’ said Selina in the hotel lobby. Rishi Sunak was coming to West Suffolk to meet members of our Conservative Association. Would he be worth a listen?

Clearly our members thought so. More than 90 of us rocked up at one day’s notice to meet Rishi (or Sushi, as one of our older members kept calling him). Rishi wanted to pitch for our votes. His strategy is to introduce himself to as many members as possible. Last weekend, he met 2,000 activists in constituencies where 10,000 Tory members are based. He needs every single one of our votes if he is to overtake Liz Truss, and currently the odds are against him. One doubtful member told me at the beginning: ‘He can’t beat Truss. Not unless he wears a pussy bow and gets in a tank.’

There was some confusion on the door. We explained four times to an elderly gentleman that not everyone who voted Conservative at the last election could vote in this one, only the party members. Another had arrived to vote for Truss.

West Suffolk is a rural constituency and as safe a Conservative seat as you will find. Matt Hancock had a majority of 23,000 in the 2019 general election. Members had come from Newmarket, Haverhill, Brandon and the surrounding villages to question Rishi. Was he what we wanted in our next leader?

I canvassed the room. Many arrived supporting Truss but were happy to give Rishi a chance. Some were already keen Rishi supporters. A hard-core group of furious members believed there had been a coup against Boris Johnson and wanted him back on the ballot paper. They blamed Rishi. One very respected member had called him ‘Judas Iscariot!’ on Facebook. Rishi was up against it.