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Cabinet ministers urge Tory MPs to unite behind Liz Truss Cabinet minister urges Tory MPs to unite behind Liz Truss
(about 5 hours later)
Four cabinet ministers have urged fellow Conservatives to get behind Prime Minister Liz Truss, after a week of open disagreement within the party. Nadhim Zahawi - chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster - has urged Tory MPs to back the prime minister
They warn the party must unite or it risks ending up in opposition. Cabinet minister Nadhim Zahawi has urged Tories to rally behind Prime Minister Liz Truss after weeks of unrest over her policies.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt are among those to have written opinion pieces in Sunday's newspapers. Mr Zahawi told the BBC that division would delay the growth plan and risk defeat at the next election.
It comes after a reversal of plans to abolish the top tax band overshadowed the start of the Tory conference. But ex-culture secretary Nadine Dorries warned Ms Truss needed to be a "unifier", not a "disrupter".
Disagreements also emerged over calls to raise benefits in line with inflation. Mr Zahawi's call for unity was echoed by other cabinet ministers in Sunday newspaper articles.
Ms Braverman and Ms Mordaunt both stood against Ms Truss in the Tory leadership race. When asked if he could see a situation where the Conservatives oust Ms Truss, Mr Zahawi told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: "No, I think what the party will do is get behind Liz Truss."
Another leadership rival, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Nadhim Zahawi, has also penned an article - along with Environment Secretary Ranil Jayawardena. Calling delay "our great enemy", Mr Zahawi said the government had to focus on delivering its plan for economic growth and lowering energy bills, adding how it would "demonstrate in 24 months' time how we have delivered".
Meanwhile, senior figures from the voluntary wing of the Conservative Party have written an open letter to the Sunday Telegraph warning MPs to "stop infighting, unite behind the PM and focus on delivering for this country and taking on the Labour Party". Mr Zahawi also accused Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon of using "dangerous language" when she took a swipe at the Conservatives on the same programme.
The calls to cease the very public divisions within the party follow a tumultuous week for Ms Truss, with interventions from former ministers and backbenchers forcing a U-turn over plans to scrap the top 45p rate of tax on the highest earners. Speaking ahead of the SNP's party conference in Aberdeen on Sunday, Ms Sturgeon said she would prefer a Labour rather than a Tory government, adding: "I detest the Tories and everything they stand for."
Two of the most high-profile objections to the policy came last Sunday from former transport secretary Grant Shapps, who said the PM would lose any vote on the matter in parliament, while former levelling up secretary Michael Gove called it "a display of the wrong values".
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In an echo of the 2015 election campaign, Ms Braverman and Mr Zahawi both suggest in their articles that any future Labour administration would be propped up by the SNP. Ms Dorries told the programme the Tories faced electoral "wipeout" and urged the prime minister to "reflect on what's gone wrong" in recent weeks.
Ms Braverman was this week reported to have said she had "reservations" about government plans to relax some immigration controls as part of a trade deal. When asked about her suggestion in a tweet that the prime minister should call a general election if she wanted to drop the policies of Boris Johnson, she said if Ms Truss introduced a "completely new set of policy ideas", it would "be right to go to the country".
But she uses her article in the Sun On Sunday to warn against "splits and fallout" in the Conservative Party, while stating that she and the prime minister are working together on immigration. But she continued: "Liz doesn't need to do that. And I really hope she won't do that when we're 30 points behind in the polls [to Labour]."
"Those working with Labour to undermine our prime minister are putting the Conservatives' chance of victory at the next election in real danger," she writes. Ms Dorries, who insisted she was "still one of Liz's biggest supporters", called on Tory colleagues to unify behind the prime minister.
"So the choice for my colleagues and for us is as party is simple: Back Liz or get Keir Starmer, hand-in-hand with Nicola Sturgeon." The calls to cease the public divisions within the party follow a turbulent week for Ms Truss, with interventions from former ministers and backbenchers forcing a U-turn over plans to scrap the top 45p rate of tax on the highest earners.
In his article for the Mail On Sunday, Mr Zahawi concedes the government did not get the "whole package right" when it came to its plan for growing the economy. Disagreements also emerged over calls to raise benefits in line with inflation.
But he says "now is the time" for the Tories to rally behind Ms Truss, adding that his fellow Conservatives need to hold their nerve. When asked if Boris Johnson could return as prime minister, Ms Dorries said she did not "rule anything out" but it was "extremely unlikely".
The cabinet office minister adds that Tory MPs should be supporting their leader, not "working against her", as he cautioned "division will only result in drift, delay and defeat". Mr Zahawi said he could not see Mr Johnson returning, saying the former prime minister was "telling all colleagues to get behind Liz".
Ms Mordaunt, who stated her support for increasing benefits in line with inflation despite no such commitment from government, is also warning against party infighting. Watch: Dorries quizzed over potential Boris Johnson return
"Division will only play into the hands of those who would take our country in the wrong direction," she writes in the Sunday Telegraph, adding, "we have to unite behind the prime minister and fight". Watch: Dorries quizzed over potential Boris Johnson return
Mr Jayawardena's piece for the Sunday Express echoes this message, saying colleagues must "get behind" the Ms Truss and "deliver, deliver, deliver". Mr Zahawi and other cabinet colleagues - including Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt - penned opinion pieces in Sunday's newspapers. Ms Braverman and Mr Zahawi both suggested any future Labour administration would be propped up by the SNP.
BBC political correspondent Ian Watson says No 10 is keen to quell any talk of rebellion among Conservatives as MPs return to Westminster this week after the party conference season.BBC political correspondent Ian Watson says No 10 is keen to quell any talk of rebellion among Conservatives as MPs return to Westminster this week after the party conference season.
But he says despite the co-ordinated messages from cabinet ministers, Ms Truss's internal critics could interpret the need for such explicit declarations of support as a sign of vulnerability.But he says despite the co-ordinated messages from cabinet ministers, Ms Truss's internal critics could interpret the need for such explicit declarations of support as a sign of vulnerability.