UK

Senior Tory Brady lifts lid on downfall of prime ministers in new memoir

Sir Graham Brady said that only 10 letters of no confidence had been filed against Rishi Sunak before he called a general election in the summer.

Sir Graham Brady has detailed the backroom sagas that led to the downfall of the last five prime ministers
Sir Graham Brady has detailed the backroom sagas that led to the downfall of the last five prime ministers (Aaron Chown/PA)
By PA Political Staff

Only 10 votes of no confidence were submitted against Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt demanded Liz Truss “must go” after she appointed him chancellor, according to a senior Tory’s tell-all of the party’s leadership struggles.

Former chairman of the influential 1922 Committee of Conservative MPs, Sir Graham Brady, has shared the backroom sagas leading up to the downfall of recent Tory prime ministers.

According to Lord Brady of Altrincham, just 10 votes of no confidence were submitted in the previous prime minister before he called the July 4 election that resulted in the worst Conservative defeat in history.

There had been speculation at the time that Mr Sunak was only a few letters away from the 15% of Tory MPs needed to trigger a vote.

Lord Brady had a front-row seat during the turmoil surrounding the last five leaderships.

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He said that after Ms Truss blamed Kwasi Kwarteng for her disastrous mini-Budget and replaced him with Mr Hunt, the new chancellor told the then-1922 chairman that she “must go”.

Speaking to the Telegraph ahead of the paper’s serialisation of his Kingmaker autobiography, Lord Brady said Mr Hunt warned him that, although she knew she had to go, “she thinks she can promise to go in six months”.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson attacked backbench critics of his former adviser, Dominic Cummings, as “chicken shit” amid anger about his lockdown-era trip to Barnard Castle in County Durham, according to Lord Brady.

“I think backbench MPs have been contemptible! They have been spineless chicken shit. They need to develop some backbone.

“The 2019 guys need to understand that they wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Dom,” the former prime minister is alleged to have said.

Lord Brady said when he told Mr Johnson “no sane person would drive their wife and small child 30 miles to test his eyesight”, the then-premier replied: “He’s not sane.”

In another episode during the Covid pandemic, Mr Johnson allegedly said: “It’s this stupid f****** two-metre rule, we’re going to review it – we’ll sort it. It’s these f****** scientists.”