Sunak 'should learn from Labour' and stamp out Liz Truss' party within a party

03 February 2024 , 17:04

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Liz Truss will launch the "popular conservatism" movement this week (Image: PA)

Rishi Sunak should learn from Labour and stamp out Liz Truss’ ‘party within a party’, a Shadow Minister has warned.

Ms Truss, who was the least popular British Prime Minister since records began, will launch a group named “Popular Conservatism” this week. Alongside allied Tory MPs Jacob Rees-Mogg and Ranil Jayawardena, the group says it will seek to “restore democratic accountability to Britain and deliver popular conservative policies.”

But Jon Ashworth, Labour ’s shadow paymaster general, branded the group “dangerous and deluded” and urged Mr Sunak to “locate his backbone” and stand up to them.

Writing for the Mirror, Mr Ashworth said: “They know how weak Sunak is. They know he won’t do anything about them. They know he either adopts their madcap plans or they can get rid of him either before or after the next election. Until he locates the backbone to stand up to them, they will continue to push him around.”

He added: “Since 2019, we in the Labour Party have put country above party and the hopes and ambitions of working people above all else. Rishi Sunak must learn from that.”

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Mr Ashworth said the PM must choose between “putting the country first” and apologising for the mess his party had made, or continuing to “bury his head in the sand…to save his own skin."

"Labour chose change,” he wrote. “That’s why people believe in us once again.”

They know how weak Sunak is. They know he won’t do anything about them.

Jonathan Ashworth: "It’s little wonder they want to see the back of Sunak’s UnPopular Conservatism" (Thomas Krych/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock)

By Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s shadow paymaster general

I was delighted to see my old friend Richard Walker, the boss of Iceland, come out in support of Labour. Richard and I have known each other a long time. It’s fair to say we’ve disagreed on plenty over the years.

So, when he says Labour offers a brighter future for his customers and his business, it shows just how much we have changed. We’ve fought hard to put our party back in the service of working people – the Mirror readers and Iceland shoppers that make up the backbone of this country.

That’s meant tough decisions. Firm leadership. Listening to those who felt let down and acting on what they told us. The contrast with Rishi Sunak’s shambolic Tories couldn’t be starker. This week, Tory MPs are launching yet another party within their party – ‘Popular Conservatism’.

To be fair to them, it’s little wonder they want to see the back of Sunak’s UnPopular Conservatism. On his watch, people’s mortgages and bills are sky high. Immigration has hit record levels. Crime is out of control. But when you discover that Liz Truss and Jacob Rees-Mogg are the leading lights of this new group, you realise that it’s not so much ‘popular’ as dangerous and deluded.

The people who crashed the economy, leaving families across the country to pick up the pieces, gearing up for their big sequel. They know how weak Sunak is. They know he won’t do anything about them.

They know he either adopts their madcap plans or they can get rid of him either before or after the next election. Until he locates the backbone to stand up to them, they will continue to push him around.

Since 2019, we in the Labour Party have put country above party and the hopes and ambitions of working people above all else. Rishi Sunak must learn from that. Because make no mistake about it – the choice he makes now will have huge consequences.

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Will he choose to put the country first, apologise for the mess the Tories have made, get rid of those who caused misery for millions, and finally give the British people their say? Or will he continue to bury his head in the sand and leave himself and his party in the control of those who wrecked the economy, just to save his own skin?

Labour chose change. That’s why people believe in us once again. If Rishi Sunak doesn’t, five more years of the Tories will mean five more years of their chaos for Britain.

Mikey Smith