Rishi Sunak holds private meeting with Tory backbencher 1922 committee chair over concerns over party’s direction

Rishi Sunak held a private meeting with the chairman of the 1922 backbench committee on Monday, Sky News reported.

this Prime Minister On Monday evening, on the sidelines of the scheduled 1922 Executive Session, I met Sir Graham Brady.

A growing number of MPs are concerned about the Tory directive.

Latest politics: PM told to ‘grow backbone’ in Tory donor battle

We have contacted Number 10 and Sir Graham but neither commented on the meeting.

However, a source confirmed the gathering and told Sky News the pair met “briefly”.

Sir Graham, the committee’s long-standing chairman, was able to hold meetings with the Prime Minister and senior government figures at key moments in their tenure.

In October 2022, in the last week of Liz Truss’s term, he met with the new Prime Minister Jeremy Hunt.

Sir Graham will know how many letters of no confidence have been submitted and how close we are to triggering a vote on the Prime Minister’s leadership.

Whereas Lee Anderson’s defection reform, debate Donor-reported language about Diane Abbottthe budget received a lackluster reception Continued massive polling deficitSince then, Conservative MPs have become increasingly anxious about the direction of the party.

Sunak’s allies say 30-40 Conservative MPs want an election in May.

This is a different group than the troublemakers, they say.

They added that there was only a 2% chance of an election and that key campaign figures had already booked their Easter holidays.

One Conservative MP said their support for the May election was 50/50, and most colleagues felt the same way.

One person said: “Some people think it’s controversial to just rip the Band-Aid off.”

Another person said one group was considering forcing an early election on the prime minister by threatening a vote of no confidence in Mr Sunak after local elections, in which the Conservatives could lose a significant number of MPs.