A cabinet minister has insisted all is not yet lost for the Tories as he quashed speculation Rishi Sunak could quit before the July 4th election.
Mel Stride, one of the prime minister’s closest allies, said there was “no question” Mr Sunak would lead the Conservatives into polling day, following speculation he could quit in the wake of the D-Day debacle.
Work and pensions secretary Mr Stride acknowledged the prime minister was feeling the backlash over his decision to leave events in Normandy early “very personally”.
In a sign of the febrile atmosphere, rumours about the prime minister’s future spread after he decided to campaign without media on Sunday following accusations of “dodging” reporters’ questions on Saturday.
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Former cabinet minister Nadine Dorries, a fierce critic of Mr Sunak, suggested in a late-night social media post on Saturday there were “rumours around tonight that Sunak’s about to fall on his sword”.
But Mr Stride told Sky News Mr Sunak would “absolutely” lead the party into the election. “There should be no question of anything other than that,” he said.
He also denied that “all is lost” for the party, despite an average 20-point poll deficit to Labour.
The work and pensions secretary told Sky News that Mr Sunak “deeply regrets” his decision to leave D-Day 80th anniversary events in Normandy early, adding that the prime minister had accepted that he made a mistake and had apologised unequivocally for that.
“I think he will be feeling this personally, very deeply, because he’s a deeply patriotic person. He will be deeply uncomfortable with what has happened.” - PA