By Lord Cruddas of Shoreditch.
Liz Truss is now Prime Minister but the facts are that she became the PM without a general election, because Boris was forced to resign by a small cabal of MPs.
This is despite Boris winning a vote of no confidence and having been elected by a vast majority at the last General Election.
If Liz Truss leaves things as they are then the MPs will come for her just like they did Boris and she will suffer the same fate.
Boris was removed undemocratically, by MPs who claimed to have lost confidence in him. But was this the real reason?
Or was it MPs trying to change the leadership for their own personal reasons with a total disregard for the British Electorate and Party members?
In every round of the leadership contest, Rishi Sunak was backed by more MPs than any other candidate. Including the vast majority of the 1922 committee.
This is the same committee that collects letters of no confidence, runs secret leadership ballots, and controls the whole leadership process.
The 1922 committee Chairman Graham Brady agrees on the leadership campaign rules, sits on the board, and is the returning officer.
To the outside world, this looks like a small cabal of MPs trying to force their man Sunak through as the new leader. In any other profession, this would be called a stitch-up. However, the cabal failed, but are they going away and will this same fate happen to Liz Truss?
Liz Truss has benefited from the cabal’s actions and the irony is that she is now in a position to change it. She can re-democratise the Conservative Party by changing the constitution, and reducing the powers of the 1922 committee to avoid the same fate as Boris.
What is needed in the Conservative Party is sourcing correctly-motivated political talent and making it into an efficient modern campaign engine. This falls into three areas, the very necessary separation of powers:
- People, the members, Associations (where we start, first fixing the Constitution).
- Processes, our representatives – national and local (right candidates and selection process).
- Systems, the campaign machinery, resources, treasury, Party structure, CCHQ, and use of technology.
The current party structure and the parliamentary system are broken and if Liz Truss wants to win a General Election and emerge as a true leader, she must first get back to basics and that starts with the constitution of the Conservative Party.
If Liz Truss leaves things as they are then the MPs will come for her just like they did Boris and she will suffer the same fate.
Liz, this is your moment, ignore it at your peril, you have been warned.
Lord Cruddas is a party donor and former Conservative Party Treasurer.
Spot on Lord Cruddas. The 1922 Committee should be disbanded immediately! No transparency or democracy shown in the disgraceful way Boris was ousted.
They certainly did not behave in the manner of true blue Conservatives. It was cloak and daggers all the way through to get rid of Boris.
I believe through unfair practice we members lost the battle for Boris, but I believe we will go on to win the war with the help of Lord Cruddas.
I hope so. I think Lyndsey Hoyle was in the committee’s pocket too. If Boris doesn’t come back then I’ve finished with politics
Agreed. Whilst there are fair minded people like Lord Cruddas and Alex Story to take up the fight, we will get a fairer system in place. We have finally been told the numbers of Conservative Party members at 170,000….20,000+ of whom signed to ask for Boris to be on the ballot paper. That is well over the 10% needed to change the constitution but the 1922 Committee still refused to listen. Their behaviour is despicable.
Good luck to Liz Truss but she will have a fight on her hands all the way if things don’t change.
Thanks go to Lord Cruddas and Alex Story for their sterling efforts anyway. Please don’t give up.
I am in complete agreement with Lord Cruddas. Urgency is required for the tory party to sort this disgusting behaviour for the future. The committee need revamping to stop what they have done . I will not vote conservative at the next election if it remains as it is today. I would expect Boris in the election.
We must not give up until this despicable behaviour is stopped. Yes Liz Truss will suffer the same fate, as Rishi Sunak was the snake in the grass, and probably promising favours for votes. The Boris situation has to be put right, the best PM we have had should not have to have this disgraceful episode on his CV. I hope Liz Truss can follow through, but feel Boris has to come back to legally and democratically finish what he began and was more than half way through. I hope what you are doing comes to fruition for the UK and democracy.
Liz needs to clear the swamp asap then start over with Lord C at the healm.
Yes- clear the swamp Liz, and get rid of all this scheming tyranny. Conservatism is the only way forward for Britain now, and Boris’s conservatism, not that of a bunch of hooting hooligans on the back benches. You’ve got the power – use it or lose it.
I absolutely agree with all of the points you have made. Well said Sir.
Yes – well said Lord Crudass. Let’s not forget to warn her about the may-hem caused by one of her predecessors, though, only too keen to lend a hand.
Hasn’t she just appointed one of the 22commitee to be in her cabinet ,Steve Baker as NI secretary or is that to keep her enemies close
Sorry please ignore my comment above I believe he’s not NISecretary but has been asked to help sort out the NI protocol
I agree with Lord Crudass , it’s urgent to sort out the conservatives, and Graham Brady , to disband him before the 1922 committee, does it all again
Whatever happened to that petition with more than 10,000 signatures? Surely that was already a stitch up. Get rid of those conspirators now.
We are following up with CCHQ. They are yet to reply to our requests last week and we will continue to ask them this coming week. We should have an update hopefully soon.