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Double blow for Rishi Sunak as both his party deputy chairmen quit in Rwanda rebellion

2024-01-17 00:00:00.0 独立报-英国新闻原网页

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Rishi Sunak has forced out Lee Anderson and other senior Tories from top jobs after they defied his authority and sided with rebel MPs on the Rwanda bill.

Mr Anderson – the controversial right-wing deputy chair of the Conservatives – voted alongside hardliners trying to force the PM to toughen up his flagship deportation legislation.

Amid fresh Tory infighting, fellow deputy chair Brendan Clarke-Smith also joined the Rwanda revolt on Tuesday night – arguing he wanted the bill “to be as strong as possible”.

Pushed out by the government over their insurrection, Mr Anderson and Mr Clarke-Smith announced their exit in a joint resignation letter.

Mr Anderson and Mr Brendan Clarke-Smith said that “whilst our main wish is to strengthen the legislation, this means that in order to vote for amendments we will therefore need to offer you our resignations from our rules”.

In a joint letter, they said the government was allowing itself to be “bound by a Blair-era legal framework and international agreements which are out of date”.

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They also warned Mr Sunak that two previous pieces of legislation aimed at stopping the boats in the English Channel had been “thwarted” – as they urged him to toughen up the bill ahead of Wednesday’s showdown vote in parliament.

Lee Anderson, left, has heaped more pressure on Rishi Sunak

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Lee Anderson, left, has heaped more pressure on Rishi Sunak

(PA Wire)

A growing number of Tory hardliners have threatened to vote against the government and send Mr Sunak’s premiership into crisis if he refuses to make last-minute changes.

Dozens of senior Tory MPs on the right – including former PM Liz Truss, ex-home secretary Suella Braverman, former leader Iain Duncan Smith and ex-cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg – have gathered in parliament on Tuesday night to discuss how to vote.

Tory rebels claimed there could be more than 30 MPs willing to defy Mr Sunak and hand him a humiliating Commons defeat if he does not back down.

Over 60 right-wingers backed the amendments tabled by Bill Cash and Robert Jenrick. It would take just 29 Tory MPs to overturn Mr Sunak’s 56-seat majority and defeat the government at the final Commons vote on Wednesday.

The hardliner told The Independent: “Even if half of the 65 signatories voted against the bill it would be enough to defeat the government – the government should be aware it’s possible if they don’t accept amendments.”

John Hayes MP, the Common Sense Group leader, told The Independent: “It is difficult to vote for it unamended. It’s very hard to vote for something you don’t think is going to work.”

Mr Sunak has now risked the wrath of Tory right-wingers who supported Mr Anderson’s fiery, populist anti-immigration rhetoric.

A Tory rebel source said it would be “deeply unfortunate, sad and politically damaging" to sack the grassroots favourite – saying Mr Anderson was “one of its most prominent and visible representatives of the red wall”.

The Lib Dems said Mr Sunak has “again been embarrassed by his own MPs” after the exit of Mr Anderson and Mr Clarke-Smith resigned. The home affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said: “If the prime minister can’t even settle squabbles in his own party, how can he be expected to run the country?”

More follows on this breaking story…

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1/ 2Blow for Rishi Sunak as Tory deputy chairmen quit in Rwanda rebellion

Blow for Rishi Sunak as Tory deputy chairmen quit in Rwanda rebellion

Lee Anderson, left, has heaped more pressure on Rishi Sunak

PA Wire

Blow for Rishi Sunak as Tory deputy chairmen quit in Rwanda rebellion

Lee Anderson could back amendments to Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda Bill (Jacob King/PA)

PA Wire

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