Another Horrific Opinion Poll For The Tories Has Piled Even More Pressure On Rishi Sunak

Rishi Sunak attempted to put a brave face on things this morning after a weekend of headlines about Tory MPs plotting to bring him down.

The prime minister insisted his party is “united” as the general election looms.

But it isn’t difficult to find Conservatives at Westminster who believe that dumping Sunak is their only chance to avoid wipeout when the country goes to the polls.

As one told HuffPost UK: “There is no outcome other than total disaster if we don’t change course.”

Westminster is awash with rumours that Sunak could be dumped after the local elections on May 2, with Penny Mordaunt being lined up to replace him.

After delivering a seven-minute speech on the economy in Coventry this morning, Sunak tried to brush off the threat to his leadership by insisting that things really weren’t that bad.

He told ITV’s Robert Peston: “I’m not interested in all Westminster politics. It doesn’t matter. What matters is the future of our country, and that’s what I am squarely focused on.”

The PM added: “All Conservatives are united in wanting to deliver a brighter future for our country.”

Within hours, however, a new poll landed delivering yet another hammer blow to the embattled Tory leader.

The Deltapoll survey showed support for the Conservatives has slumped by four points in the past week to just 23%, while Labour has gone up two points to 46%.

Even more worryingly for Tory MPs, backing for Reform UK has also increased to put them on 12%.

Business secretary Kemi Badenoch, another senior figure tipped as a contender for the Tory crown, this morning tried to play down the significance of the anti-Sunak plotting.

She said: “There will be some people who are unhappy, I’m not going to deny that.

“But we need to move away from scenario where one or two people can create all the news and 300 others can’t get a word in.”

But one former minister told HuffPost UK: “Kemi cannot be seen to be associated with any plot. And she’s in a safe seat so she doesn’t have to worry about losing her own seat.”

Ben Wallace, the former defence secretary, said like it or not, the Tories are stuck with Sunak until the election.

He told Times Radio: “Whether colleagues are happy with him or not, it’s too late, right. Get on with it.”

As endorsements go, they don’t get much weaker than that.