It seems that talk of Tory treachery simply won’t go away. Less than 48 hours after Kemi Badenoch declared that colleagues planning to bring down Rishi Sunak are ‘not my friends’, the Guardian has today revealed that the Trade Secretary is a member of WhatsApp group titled ‘Evil Plotters’. Among the members of this group is her fellow cabinet member Michael Gove, a past master of the dark arts of politics. The paper also notes claims she regularly meets with her ‘key MP backers’ and has an aide ‘still working on leadership stuff.’
Team Badenoch have been quick to dismiss suggestions that she is working on any campaign. Her spokesman says that ‘having lunch, speaking to MPs, and having a parliamentary special adviser is not a plot, it is the day-to-day job of being a secretary of state’ and suggested that ‘This utter nonsense is clearly part of a targeted campaign against Kemi.’ He did not, however, deny that the minister is a part of the intriguingly-named WhatsApp group. However, one could argue if they were really ‘evil plotters’ they may have gone for a more subtle name so as not to give the game away straight away.
As for the plotters more generally, the focus is now moving to the veteran Tory operator Dougie Smith – also known as ‘Doctor No’ for those acquainted with the works of Nadine Dorries, the former culture minister. Smith is reported to be in contact with the rebels – a group made up of former government aides and unhappy MPs and the mysterious donors involved in the Conservative Britain Alliance. Accounts differ as to whether Smith is acting as an ‘adviser’ to the CBA.
What exactly is going on? Some, like Nadine Dorries, have been quick to claim vindication over what they see as a conspiracy to replace Sunak with Badenoch. ‘In The Plot I wrote that Dougie Smith and plotters would remove Rishi in order to install Kemi, the close personal friend of Dougie Smith’ she wrote on Twitter/X. ‘Rishi was just the stop gap.’ Her ally Lord Greenhalgh previously shared screenshots of Badenoch in a WhatsApp group from July 2022, urging ministers to resign from Boris Johnson’s government.
Currently, talk of such a coup does not seem to find much favour with the parliamentary party. Different factions are certainly dissatisfied but there does not yet seem to be a significant movement to unseat the Prime Minister – as evidenced by the near-universal condemnation of Simon Clarke’s call for Sunak’s resignation last week. That could all change of course, with the next moment of danger being a fortnight’s time.
On Friday 16 February, MPs will wake up to the result of the Wellingborough and Kingswood by-elections. Most Tories expect both Conservative-held seats to be lost, with some Sunak allies suggesting that the result is ‘priced in.’ The deciding factor could be if the Reform party can win 10 per cent of the vote in Wellingborough, as polls have been suggesting they will for months.
However, if the plotters push this angle too hard it could reinforce the idea pushed by some that the plotters are being helped by Reform backers – something that would be equivalent to treachery for any Tory politicians involved. Until then, talk of plots, coups and factions is likely to remain just that.
Comments