A stitch-up to favour Rishi?

LIZTruss finally bowed to the inevitable yesterday after Tory MPs said the party could not take any more humiliation.

Undignified scuffles in the Commons voting lobbies involving senior members of the Government, U-turns on U-turns and resignations that were rescinded late at night left Conservatives in despair.

Just 44 days after entering Downing Street with an uplifting promise to drive economic growth and give people more control over their own lives, MsTruss returned to the lectern to admit defeat.

Party chiefs are desperate to avoid deepening divisions with another bitter drawn-out contest so have decided it will all be over by next Friday at the latest.

Swirling

But the bar for entry has been set so high that someTories feel it is a stitch-up designed in favour of Rishi Sunak, who was the favourite among MPs last time round but failed to win over the membership.

Rumours were swirling last night of votes being lent to Penny Mordaunt, even though she secured more than 100 votes last time, to make sure she is definitely on the list.

Cynics say that would give the members an illusion of having a say because they would be able to vote for their preferred candidate.

But the phoney contest would infuriate many members who never wanted Boris Johnson to leave and believe he is the only option to take over from Ms Truss.The former PM has a mandate from the country after winning an 80-seat majority in 2019 and polling shows he is the most popular with theTory grassroots. But to make it on to Monday’s list, Mr Johnson and his allies must be disciplined.

Some of his former supporters are unwilling to back him after the partygate debacle and feel his return would be too soon.

Others will need persuasion that this time round he would run a tight ship.

Allies in the party were quick out of the blocks to publicly declare their support, which gives him the momentum needed to persuade the right of the party that he is the only candidate who can stop Mr Sunak becoming Prime Minister.

That should focus minds over the next 48 hours as MPs decide who to choose.

One major barrier to a return, however, is the investigation he faces over whether he misled MPs over partygate.The looming probe could cast doubt in the minds of any waverers.

But insiders reflected that minor moral failings were preferable to huge economic ones and there is now a nostalgia for a Prime Minister who led the country through a pandemic and showed true leadership over the invasion of Ukraine.