Fears Rishi Sunak could be forced into snap election as Tory infighting rages on Rwanda plan: Defiant PM calls press conference to insist he CAN get deportation flights going ahead of crunch vote – as allies warn MPs against ‘insane’ leadership challenge
Tories voiced fears Rishi Sunak could be forced into a snap election today as the PM sounded defiance on his Rwanda plan.
At a hastily-arranged Downing Street press conference, the PM dismissed a revolt among MPs on the right and left wings over new emergency legislation.
Despite suffering a body blow with the dramatic resignation of immigration minister Robert Jenrick last night, Mr Sunak argued that the Bill will allow deportation flights to begin.
The premier seemed to back off making a crucial showdown on the legislation next week a confidence issue. By convention that would have meant the PM either resigning or dissolving Parliament if he lost.
However, the mood at Westminster is increasingly febrile with rumours of letters being sent to the chair of the powerful 1922 committee backing a leadership challenge. A Tory vote is triggered if 53 letters are sent.
Party chair Richard Holden told a lunch with journalists this afternoon that it would be ‘insane’ to change leader again.
It also remains unclear what would happen if Mr Sunak is defeated on the Rwanda Bill – a prospect that only requires 29 MPs to switch sides.
Veteran MPs bemoaned the ‘complete mess’ over Mr Sunak’s vow to ‘Stop the Boats’, and suggested that he might be compelled to trigger an election in May – or even March – if party unity slides further out of control.
During tetchy exchanges at the press conference, Mr Sunak said: ‘We will get flights off the ground. We will deter illegal migrants from coming here. And we will stop the boats.’
Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman stepped up her attack with an interview on BBC Radio 4’s flagship Today programme this morning.
She demanded Mr Sunak ‘changes course’ and refused explicitly to back him continuing as leader.
The premier moved to replace Mr Jenrick this morning, splitting his role with Mike Tomlinson becoming illegal migration minister and Tom Pursglove minister for legal migration.
Rishi Sunak insisted he is ‘ending the merry go round’ of legal challenges to his Rwanda plan today as he faces a Tory revolt
Robert Jenrick unleashed fresh Tory chaos last night as he resigned as minister for immigration
In a scathing resignation letter, Mr Jenrick described the legislation as ‘a triumph of hope over experience
Former home secretary Suella Braverman, who was sacked last month, said the Bill was ‘fatally flawed’ in the House of Commons today
Speculation had been growing this morning that Mr Sunak might engineer a ‘back me or sack me’ moment.
Sources had refused to rule out the extreme step. But asked whether he would make it a confidence issue, Mr Sunak said: ‘No, but what this vote is about is about confidence in Parliament to demonstrate that it gets the British people’s frustration.
‘I get it, I’m acting on it. So actually the real question when it comes to all these votes is for the Labour Party, because I want to get this legislation on the statute books as quickly as possible. That’s what we’re all about.’
Pressed on whether he he would call an election if he fails to get the Rwanda legislation through, Mr Sunak said: ‘We’ve got to finish the job and I’m going to see this thing through.
PM splits migration job as he replaces Jenrick
Rishi Sunak has split ministerial responsibility for legal and illegal migration as he replaced Robert Jenrick.
Michael Tomlinson will be the illegal migration minister in the Home Office, and will also attend Cabinet.
Tom Pursglove will be the minister for legal migration and delivery in the Home Office.
Robert Courts – who represent David Cameron’s old Witney seat – replaces Mr Tomlinson as Solicitor General.
‘I’m confident I can get this thing done.’
Earlier, one former Cabinet minister told MailOnline that the tactic would backfire by bringing a no-confidence vote closer.
‘It will make it worse for him. People will support them on second reading and then just put their letters in,’ they said.
Touring broadcast studios this morning, Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris also signalled doubts about the idea. He said it was decision for the whips but ‘I can’t see why it would need to be because I think all Conservatives will vote for it’.
With Ms Braverman also attacking the Rwanda legislation as too weak and many right-wingers sharing concerns, it is unclear whether the government will have the numbers to get the proposals through the Commons unamended. It will then face an even rougher ride in the Lords.
One Nation Tories are said to be very nervous about provisions in the bill that allow ministers to unilaterally declare Rwanda a safe country and their fears have not been assuaged by the PM’s speech this morning.
The group, which is getting legal advice from former solicitor general Lord Garnier, has not yet decided whether it can back the bill in its current form, potentially handing the PM a new headache.
At his press conference, Mr Sunak gave an impassioned defence of the legislation’s merits.
He said: ‘This Bill blocks every single reason that has ever been used to prevent flights to Rwanda from taking off.
‘The only extremely narrow exception will be if you can prove with credible and compelling evidence that you specifically have a real and imminent risk of serious and irreversible harm.’
He said failing to recognise that would ‘undermine the treaty’, adding: ‘If we go any further the entire scheme will collapse and there is no point having a Bill with nowhere to send people to.’
One veteran Tory MP told MailOnline that the chances of an election on May 2, or even before, were rising dramatically as Mr Sunak struggles to control the party.
They said the PM should go to the country before the weather improves in the Spring, potentially sparking a rise in Channel crossings.
But the former minister insisted that the likelihood of a Tory confidence vote could drive him towards an even earlier poll.
‘Look at Theresa May. When the confidence vote comes, even if you win it you don’t last six months,’ they said.
‘He will win it but I don’t see him going more than a month before calling an election. It will be back me or sack me.’
The MP said: ‘I can’t stand the PM after what he did to Liz… But I can’t see a scenario where he doesn’t lead us into the next election.
‘Changing leader, there are a lot of people like myself who think it would be ridiculous to go down that road. The public would not wear it.’
Mr Holden admitted ‘unity’ was the biggest challenge facing the Conservatives ahead of the general election.
In a rallying call to his party colleagues, he warned it would be ‘insanity’ to have another Tory leadership contest before the country goes to the polls.
Speaking to reporters at a Westminster lunch, Mr Holden warned his party colleagues that ‘divided parties don’t win elections’.
Unity the biggest challenge for Tories, warns party chair
Tory chair Richard Holden has admitted ‘unity’ is the biggest challenge facing the Conservatives ahead of the general election.
In a rallying call to his party colleagues, he warned it would be ‘insanity’ to have another Tory leadership contest before the country goes to the polls.
Speaking to reporters at a Westminster lunch, Mr Holden warned his party colleagues that ‘divided parties don’t win elections’.
He said, after 13 years in power, the Tories ‘have a really positive story to tell’ on education and rising real-terms incomes for those on lower wages.
Amid the ructions over the PM’s new Rwanda bill, which Tory right-wingers have attacked for not being as tough as it could have been, Mr Holden said: ‘We have a really positive story to tell.
‘We need to go out there and tell it rather than talking to ourselves about what we’re not quite as perfect on as we could be.’
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick last night dramatically quit his Cabinet role due to his anger at the new Rwanda legislation.
But Mr Holden said of Mr Jenrick’s exit: ‘I genuinely don’t understand why he’s taken the decision he’s taken.
‘What the PM is bringing forward at the moment are the toughest immigration laws we could possibly have.
‘He won a big debate within the Government over the last few weeks to have them really tough.’
Quizzed as to what the biggest challenges facing the Tories as they seek a fifth term in office, Mr Holden added: ‘The biggest challenge we face is actually a challenge for all of my colleagues really.
‘It’s to decide whether they’re interested in being in Government, continuing to make those massive changes we’ve made over the past decade.
‘Whether we’re interested in shifting 65 to 85 per cent of kids going to good schools, whether we’re interested in keeping education standards there and opportunities for the next generation, whether we’re interested in ensuring people are in work.
‘Or whether they would prefer to sit in Opposition and watch the Labour Party underdo really sensible welfare reforms we’ve made, watch them – as Keir Starmer has said – use Wales as a blueprint, see them take us to that socialist utopia that is Wales at the moment.’
He added: ‘I hope they understand, actually, the enemy is not within, the enemy is out there.’
He said, after 13 years in power, the Tories ‘have a really positive story to tell’ on education and rising real-terms incomes for those on lower wages.
Amid the ructions over the PM’s new Rwanda bill, which Tory right-wingers have attacked for not being as tough as it could have been, Mr Holden said: ‘We have a really positive story to tell.
‘We need to go out there and tell it rather than talking to ourselves about what we’re not quite as perfect on as we could be.’
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick last night dramatically quit his Cabinet role due to his anger at the new Rwanda legislation.
But Mr Holden said of Mr Jenrick’s exit: ‘I genuinely don’t understand why he’s taken the decision he’s taken.
‘What the PM is bringing forward at the moment are the toughest immigration laws we could possibly have.
‘He won a big debate within the Government over the last few weeks to have them really tough.’
Quizzed as to what the biggest challenges facing the Tories as they seek a fifth term in office, Mr Holden added: ‘The biggest challenge we face is actually a challenge for all of my colleagues really.
‘It’s to decide whether they’re interested in being in Government, continuing to make those massive changes we’ve made over the past decade.
‘Whether we’re interested in shifting 65 to 85 per cent of kids going to good schools, whether we’re interested in keeping education standards there and opportunities for the next generation, whether we’re interested in ensuring people are in work.
‘Or whether they would prefer to sit in Opposition and watch the Labour Party underdo really sensible welfare reforms we’ve made, watch them – as Keir Starmer has said – use Wales as a blueprint, see them take us to that socialist utopia that is Wales at the moment.’
He added: ‘I hope they understand, actually, the enemy is not within, the enemy is out there.’
The PM issued an ultimatum to his party to ‘come together as a team’ during a tub-thumping appearance before Tory MPs at the 1922 Committee last night.
Mr Sunak said the emergency legislation needed to be passed with a strong majority to ‘throw down the gauntlet to the Lords’, where it could face tough opposition.
But he faced immediate criticism for shunning the most hardline option and not providing powers to ignore the European Convention on Human Rights.
In a scathing resignation letter, Mr Jenrick described the legislation as ‘a triumph of hope over experience’.
A senior Tory source hit back, labelling Mr Jenrick’s desertion ‘a disgrace’.
The source said: ‘The PM is trying to solve a serious problem – this is just petulant. It is just treacherous.
‘They are trying to destroy the party, throwing their toys out of the pram to seek attention.
‘If you are genuinely serious about reducing immigration into this country – legal and illegal – you don’t quit. The sure-fire way to get the opposite is if Keir Starmer becomes prime minister.’
Mr Jenrick had been on the brink for days, demanding the UK should remove obstacles to Rwanda deportations by opting out of European human rights laws.
Last night he conceded he was ‘unable to take the currently proposed legislation through the Commons as I do not believe it provides us with the best possible chance of success’.
He wrote: ‘The stakes for the country are too high for us not to pursue the stronger protections required to end the merry-go-round of legal challenges which risk paralysing the scheme and negating its intended deterrent.’
Ms Braverman, who was sacked last month, said the Bill was ‘fatally flawed’ and ‘won’t stop the boats’.
But a Government source told the Mail ‘there is no Suella option on the table here’ because both Rwanda and the UK want to stay within international law.
A veteran Tory MP told the Mail that the view among MPs was that Ms Braverman ‘repeated what she had said before, but it is time to move on’.
‘The die-hards around her will cheer, but many others will say, ‘You’ve made your point, now stay silent, let’s move on – we’ve got an election to fight’,’ they said.
Rwanda’s foreign affairs minister Vincent Biruta said his country would not continue with the deal if it broke international law.
Mr Sunak hit back after Mr Jenrick’s resignation saying he had ‘misunderstood’ the Rwanda plan and following his views would ‘collapse’ the whole scheme
Jenrick’s resignation came just an hour after a plea by Rishi Sunak for the party to ‘unite or die’ over his Rwanda policy
Jenrick was Minister for Immigration between 25 October 2022 and 6 December 2023
Speculation about Mr Jenrick’s position reached fever pitch because he was nowhere to be seen while Home Secretary James Cleverly made a statement to MPs on the legislation at 6pm last night, 90 minutes after it was published.
The Bill – intended to overcome the Supreme Court ruling last month which declared the scheme unlawful – will disapply parts of the Human Rights Act and ‘unambiguously’ prevent meddling by the courts, Mr Cleverly said.
It also sets out that only ministers – and not unelected judges – can decide whether to comply with Strasbourg injunctions designed to block the scheme.
However, Tory Right-wingers were angered by the inclusion of an apparent loophole which will allow those selected for removal to Rwanda to lodge legal challenges based on ‘individual circumstances’.
Mr Sunak won support from more centrist MPs, including the One Nation group. Tory whips had warned him that as many as ten ministers could quit if the Government tried to override the ECHR.
When he made his plea for unity last night, Mr Sunak referred to his first appearance before the 1922 Committee after being elected Tory leader just over a year ago. Back then, he warned fractious MPs they must ‘unite or die’. Last night he said this was ‘one of those moments’.
Tory MP Bob Seely said MPs heeded Mr Sunak’s call, saying they should ‘stick together’. He told Times Radio: ‘These are complex problems. You’ve got 100million people globally on the move over the next few years and we simply cannot throw open our welfare state to anyone who can get here.’
Last night, Mr Sunak wrote to Mr Jenrick saying he had a ‘fundamental misunderstanding’ of the Bill. The PM said his resignation was ‘disappointing’ and added that Rwanda would not accept a scheme in breach of international law.
Mr Sunak added: ‘There would be no point in passing a law that would leave us with nowhere to send people to.’
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