Nadine Dorries says Tories 'deserve to be wiped out' if they swap leader again

28 January 2024 , 16:14

989     0

Nadine Dorries accused Kemi Badenoch of trying to become Tory leader (Image: PA)

Nadine Dorries has admitted the Conservative Party “deserves to be wiped out of existence” if it tries to swap leader yet again.

Top Tory Kemi Badenoch insisted she is not plotting to topple Rishi Sunak after rebels suggested she could replace the struggling Prime Minister. The Business Secretary accused them of “stirring” as she told them to “stop messing around and get behind the leader”.

But former Cabinet minister Ms Dorries dismissed her denials and accused her of pursuing her own leadership ambitions. “I would suggest that she takes her own advice,” she told the BBC ’s Laura Kuenssberg in response to Ms Badenoch’s suggestion that rebels should stop messing around.

Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch insisted she supported the Prime Minister

Ms Dorries, who is no longer an MP, added: "Kemi Badenoch and others… what they are out for are themselves. They are not out for the benefit of the individuals in the country and the citizens."

Speaking to reporters later, Ms Dorries said: “It is insanity to think that we can have another leadership election. If we do, the Conservative Party deserves to be wiped out of existence because what they should be doing is governing for the people and not governing for themselves.

Teachers, civil servants and train drivers walk out in biggest strike in decade

"They are concerned only with their own ambition. There's this desperate race on because they simply want to be Prime Minister. It's political hedonism and narcissism in its most extreme forms. They need to pipe down and get behind the Prime Minister.”

Ms Badenoch said that the Prime Minister had her full support but did not rule out a future leadership bid. "They [the rebels] need to stop messing around and get behind the leader," she told Sky News.

"Frankly, the people who keep putting my name in there are not my friends. They don't care about me. They don't care about my family or what this would entail. They are just stirring." Asked about her own ambitions, she said: "You never really know these things until you're in the moment."

Ms Badenoch, who is the most popular Cabinet minister according to Tory bible ConservativeHome, ran unsuccessfully to be Tory leader when Boris Johnson was ousted. But she threw her weight behind Mr Sunak in the fast-tracked contest to succeed Ms Truss in November.

It comes after bitter Tory infighting erupted last week when ex-Cabinet Minister Sir Simon Clarke told MPs to ditch Mr Sunak or risk being "massacred" at the election. He was slated publicly by Conservative MPs for his intervention but behind the scenes, a loosely organised group of Tories appears to be plotting Mr Sunak's downfall.

Former No10 aide Will Dry said the country is heading for "at least a decade of Labour rule" after joining a rebel plot to topple the PM. Mr Dry admitted to helping to compose questions for a recent mega-poll predicting electoral doom for the Tories under Mr Sunak. The poll was funded by a shadowy group, calling itself the Conservative Britain Alliance, which is believed to be made up of disaffected Tory donors.

Lizzy Buchan