Andrew Marr: Tory right is 'as riled and suspicious as ever' as Sunak marks 100 days as PM

1 February 2023, 18:12

The Tory right is 'as riled and suspicious as ever' as Sunak marks 100 days as PM, Andrew Marr has said.

Opening LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr, the presenter reflected on the current state of the Tory party as Rishi Sunak marks 100 days in his role as PM.

"The big question tonight about Rishi Sunak is this: 100 days into his premiership, how safe is the prime minister from endlessly dissatisfied and unpredictable Tory right-wingers?" Andrew said.

"And the daily troubles don’t go away. After the firing of the party chairman Nadhim Zahawi the guns are being trained on the deputy prime minister Dominic Raab over many bullying allegations - a matter of personality, really which is going to be tough for Mr Sunak to resolve fairly.

"A more important issue for the country is the direction of the Tory politics after Brexit and in particular over tax cuts.

"We are supposed to be going through a period of calm and quiet in politics but the Tory right is as riled and suspicious as ever.

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Andrew Marr concludes that the Tory right is 'as riled and suspicious as ever'

Andrew continued: "Last night, at the relaunch of eurosceptic campaign group the European Foundation, the former cabinet minister Sir John Redwood told colleagues that although he was proud Britain had achieved Brexit and that parliament could tax and spend without interference, 'I am not proud of the fact that Parliament still won't use the powers. Wake up Parliament. Get on with it, government.'

"He told Mr Sunak to use savings from the EU to fund tax cuts as soon as possible.

"Another former Brexit Minister David Jones, meanwhile said that if the House of Lords obstructed legislation on the Northern Ireland protocol, MPs should consider abolishing it.

"Mr Jones concluded: 'The Revolution is not yet complete and I believe it is the duty of everybody in this room to complete that Revolution.' Strong words. These guys haven't gone away.

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"That doesn't mean Rishi Sunak is in any kind of immediate danger.

"Who’d lead rebels against him? Boris Johnson is cavorting all over social media defending his record as prime minister, claiming his Partygate accusers are out of their minds and attacking Mr Sunak for not sending fighter jets to Ukraine - but talking to Tory MPs, I don't detect any surge of support for the former prime minister… far from it.

"So far this feels to me more like familiar 'where’s the nearest camera?' exhibitionism than a serious political move towards restoration.

"But nor can the prime minister relax. Johnson allies are calling for party members to choose Mr Zahawi’s successor.

"I wonder what the agenda is there? Meanwhile I'm told senior journalists are again investigating his family finances. So it’s funny old mood out there."