Rishi Sunak is facing a backbench revolt following poor local election results this week (Image: PA)
Rishi Sunak’s election woes deepened last night after he suffered a humiliating defeat in a key Tory stronghold.
Labour stunned the PM by toppling popular West Midlands Mayor Andy Street in a devastating blow to his hopes of clinging to power.
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The shock defeat came after voters ousted hundreds of Tory councillors across the country. The setback – after a tense recount – snatched away Mr Sunak’s last remaining hope of ending a damaging day on a high.
One senior Tory said: “If we can’t win here, with an extremely popular mayor who has championed the region for eight years, then we’re doomed. Rishi must take a lot of the blame for what’s happened. He’s a lame duck and it looks like we’ll all be limping on to defeat at the general election now.”
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A Tory opponent of Mr Sunak said the loss in the West Midlands is a “sure harbinger of coming electoral doom”.
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The defeat of Mr Street in the knife-edge contest will push morale in Conservative ranks to a new low and strengthen Labour ambitions for a landslide.
There were strong hopes that Mr Street would repeat the success of Tees Valley Tory mayor Ben Houchen and hang onto power.
But Labour’s Richard Parker defeated Mr Street in one of the biggest disappointments for Conservatives in a bleak set of local elections.
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Andy Street's loss in the West Midlands mayoral election has sparked fury among Tory MPs (Image: PA)
Plotters who had hoped to oust the PM do not expect MPs to try to remove him before the general election. A former minister said: “I think they are paralysed with fear.”
The Prime Minister told the Sunday Express: "It’s been disappointing of course to lose dedicated Conservative councillors and Andy Street in the West Midlands, with his track record of providing great public services and attracting significant investment to the area, but that has redoubled my resolve to continue to make progress on our plan. So we will continue working as hard as ever to take the fight to Labour and deliver a brighter future for our country."
However, former Home Secretary Suella Braverman warned: "The Tories must change course, or be wiped out. It’s time to wake up. These results will look like a tremor next to the earthquake due on general election night. Changing leader now won’t work: the time to do so came and went.
"The hole to dig us out is the PM’s, and it’s time for him to start shovelling."
An ex-cabinet minister said that Mr Sunak was a "lame duck," adding: “He’s destroying the Conservative Party. At this rate, there will be no party left.”
Turning their guns on the PM for cancelling the extension of HS2 beyond Birmingham, they said: "It was HS2 that did it and that was all Rishi, Rishi cancelled it. It’s time for Rishi to move on now and call an election. It’s over."
The West Midlands loss is especially stinging for the Tories because Labour faced competition from independent candidate Akhmed Yakoob who campaigned on Gaza.
Labour leader Sir Keir said: “This phenomenal result was beyond our expectations. People across the country have had enough of Conservative chaos and decline and voted for change with Labour.”
The announcement of Mr Street’s defeat came on the heels of Labour’s Sadiq Khan securing a historic third term as Mayor of London. Labour also won the mayoralties of Liverpool, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, and in Greater Manchester where Andy Burnham was re-elected.
MPs were called by party figures yesterday in a bid to calm nerves and friends of key potential leadership candidates insists Mr Street’s defeat would not be the trigger for a coup.
A source close to Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said: “Kemi is fully supportive of the Prime Minister and thinks the party needs to pull together to fight Labour.”
Deputy Foreign Secretary Andrew Mitchell paid tribute to Mr Street, saying: “He has been the most brilliant Mayor. The West Midlands has changed for the better under his leadership.”
The PM turned his guns on a Labour party, saying: “They have no plan to defend our nation, no plan to stop the boats and no plan to grow the economy. They are a soft touch and would take us back to square one.”
Mr Sunak insisted real progress has been achieved that will make a difference to households across the nation. He said: “After a tough few years in the aftermath of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, we as a nation are turning a corner. Our plan is working with inflation more than halved, tax cuts worth an average of ￡900 hitting people’s pockets, state pensions protected with our triple lock, our Rwanda bill signed into law, allowing us to start detaining illegal migrants ready for the first flights, legal migration down and defence spending boosted. We Conservatives understand the priorities of the British people and are delivering on them.”
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Sources close to Boris Johnson have poured cold water on suggestions he could challenge Rishi Sunak (Image: Getty)
However, Tories shaken by voter anger in the local elections say Mr Sunak has been handed a “final warning” and a “yellow card”. A former minister warned: “This is a big elbow in the ribs for Rishi Sunak and the cabinet to wake up and realise that it doesn’t matter what the Westminster bubble or the leafy suburbs want.”
The MP said the “real power in the country” is held by voters in Red Wall seats who will “kick the Government in the shins if they don’t do what they want them to do”.
Critics of the PM want him to stage a major reshuffle. A former cabinet minister said: “He can’t be removed as leader now, it’s too late, but others are going to have to carry the party over the line in an election.
“Whoever is running number 10 needs to get a reshuffle organised, bring in the good communicators and get on the phone and start grovelling.” Fans of former PM Mr Johnson want him to be given a major campaigning role. Those close to Mr Sunak hope he will unleash his talents in the North of England while David Cameron campaigns in the South West.
But Mr Johnson declined to comment on the challenges facing the party. A spokesman for the former prime minister said: “Boris Johnson’s number one priority is campaigning for Ukrainian victory and lasting peace. He is focused on that.”
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Those close to him insist any discussion of leadership plots or plans or strategies has not been licensed by him.
A former plotter was disappointed MPs had decided not to move against Mr Sunak, saying they had decided to go into Oppo-sition rather than choose a new leader. They feared the party would spend a decade out of power and could split in two.
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He pushed for the party to abandon “this middle of the road rubbish woke stuff”.
Conservatives were heartened that Ben Houchen survived as Tees Valley Mayor, albeit with a significantly reduced majority. But a northern Conservative MP said it was a mistake to claim the Red Wall was holding and it would take a “miracle” to turn the party’s fortunes around.
However, another Red Wall MP believes the party can “pull it back”, saying: “Rishi is capable of doing the job. If he can get the policies right we can actually change the country how we want it changed, how we promised in 2019.”
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