Labour Dossier Suggests Tory Divisions Are Enough To Spark Leadership Contest

A third of Conservative MPs have publicly criticised the government this year.
The Tory Party Conference will begin this Sunday, with Theresa May set to deliver the leader's speech on Wednesday
The Tory Party Conference will begin this Sunday, with Theresa May set to deliver the leader's speech on Wednesday
PA Wire/PA Images

More than a third of Theresa May’s MPs have publicly criticised their Conservative colleagues or party policy in the past 12 months, a dossier by Labour has revealed ahead of the Tory Party conference next week.

Analysis of 106 Tory MPs over the past year found that 80% of rebukes were aimed at the Prime Minister, with 83 MPs voicing concerns about the PM and her agenda.

The dossier noted this is “well over the threshold of 48 needed to trigger a Tory leadership contest”.

Labour has produced a 45 page dossier of blue-on-blue attacks over the past year
Labour has produced a 45 page dossier of blue-on-blue attacks over the past year
Labour

Justine Greening - who held the role of education secretary until January - is also featured in the dossier, having branded the Chequers deal “unworkable” last week and accused the government of wasting two years “flogging a strategy that is not going to succeed”.

Meanwhile, criticisms from Anna Soubry, Ken Clarke, Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson and former Northern Ireland secretary Theresa Villiers are listed in the report.

According to the document, the Conservative Party is fractured “in every region in the country” and at “every level of government”, with the dossier including sections on “Chequers wreckers”, the Cabinet, backbenchers and local government.

“Riven by backbiting and plotting, this Tory government is the most divided government ever,” said Andrew Gwynne, Labour’s shadow communities and local government secretary.

Shadow local government secretary Andrew Gwynne accused the government of being the 'most divided ever'
Shadow local government secretary Andrew Gwynne accused the government of being the 'most divided ever'
PA Archive/PA Images

“At a time when the country is in the midst of the most important negotiations in recent history, the Tories’ endless infighting and political posturing poses a very real danger to Britain’s future and to communities across the country,” he continued.

Insisting that “British people deserve better”, Gwynne added: “They are incapable of delivering a Brexit that protects jobs and the economy, and are incapable of delivering for workers.”

It comes two weeks after 50 members of the pro-Brexit European Research Group reportedly met to discuss ousting May and on the eve of the Conservatives annual conference, which is due to meet in Birmingham on Sunday.

“Try not to be too disheartened by the scale of the division in our ranks,” the fake opening letter from Barwell reads. “Let’s just try to get through conference.”

HuffPost UK has contacted the Conservative Party for comment.

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