Rishi Sunak faces a ‘red wall of silence’ from miffed Tory MPs for bringing David Cameron out of retirement.
With the Prime Minister already facing revolt on his backbenches over immigration, the return of the former PM has been met with stony silence by Tories in the North and Midlands. Of the 86 sitting Tory MPs in northern and midlands seats, just nine have made public expressions of support for last week’s shock move.
Two ‘red wall-ers’ have outright criticized Sunak’s decision to bring back the former PM. Morley and Outwood MP, Andrea Jenkins, has submitted a letter of no confidence in the PM. Meanwhile, Middlesborough South MP Simon Clarke tweeted an apparent criticism, thinly disguised as a comment about the England football squad: Controversial choices here from the manager, putting it very mildly."
A Labour source said: “Rishi Sunak’s policies have hammered working people across the north, leaving them worse off. After 13 years of the Tories, public services are on their knees. Now the chief axeman David Cameron is back. They haven’t changed. The penny has finally dropped for Tory MPs: Sunak represents more of the same.”
It comes as many red wall Tories - who only won their seats because Boris Johnson convinced voters to “lend” him their votes - fear party chiefs are set to abandon them at the next election in favour of shoring up support in the south.
One northern Tory was last week quoted as saying: “David Cameron may look good on the world stage as Foreign Secretary but he will look bloody awful in a back street boozer behind the Red Wall. We have now officially given up on trying to win Sunderland. This is all about trying to save posh people in Surrey.”
A poll taken after Mr Cameron’s appointment give Labour a 24 point lead over the Conservatives across 40 red wall seats. The poll by Redfield and Winton Strategies, carried out on November 19, had Labour on 50% - up two points since the previous month.