Some of Rishi Sunak’s closest allies have faced a furious backlash after they were rewarded by the former prime minister despite their “mad” role in calling an early election.
In a sign of growing anger within party ranks over the decision to hold an early election and concerns about the way it was conducted, former deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden and his chief of staff Liam Booth-Smith have been targeted by angry candidates and their aides for their roles in a “catastrophic defeat” that many sources claim was made worse by the decision to hold an early election.
Booth-Smith was given a peerage in the dissolution honours list, while Dowden was given a knighthood. Both are said to have favoured an early election, with Dowden being described as particularly influential.
“Around 1,300 to 1,500 people lost their jobs last night,” said one senior Conservative source. “The person who helped decide the election was the right time, Liam Booth-Smith, was included in the termination honours on the same night.” Dowden was also criticised by one person for supporting an election before playing little role in the election campaign. Another senior Conservative adviser said simply: “Fuck that guy.”
Others defended the pair, saying it was “standard practice” to reward senior advisers and MPs. But the blame game has begun in earnest after a campaign criticised for repeated blunders, from Sunak’s rain-soaked election announcement to his decision to leave D-day commemorations early. Insiders painted a picture of a desperate campaign in which the Conservative Party headquarters regularly struggled to find ministers to take to the airwaves. “That’s why you’ve seen the same names,” one party source said. “Poor Mel Stride.”
There was an immediate outcry over the decision to hold an early election once the result was known. There were also claims of widespread unrest across the cabinet, including from Esther McVey, David Cameron and Chris Heaton-Harris. One source said the cabinet could not influence the decision “in any way, shape or form” because it had already come into effect. “There was a very narrow group of people advising the prime minister – people who knew nothing about politics,” said one senior Tory. “These people have the temerity to think they are political geniuses.”
As frustration mounted after the disastrous result was revealed, concerns were raised even in the hours after Sunak’s snap election call. Officials warned that hundreds of candidates still needed to be elected, with many MPs and their teams already booked for holidays. Many candidates lacked the funds they needed to contest, meaning there was no real element of surprise.
“People had geared themselves up for November – everyone,” said a senior Conservative source. “MPs, special advisers, ministers, campaign teams. Ask a random group of MPs if they have £20,000 in their campaign bank accounts and the answer is no.” In fact, some major donors – even those in the “leaders club” class who regularly donate tens of thousands a year – did not contribute to the election effort.
“It was madness from the start,” said one source familiar with cabinet discussions about the snap election. “The polls never really tightened. Then there was a series of unforced errors in the campaign – and we put forward these numbers, like national service, which weren’t really going to attract people.”
Another said the lack of preparation had led to a “mass exodus” of senior MPs, leaving the party tasked with finding new candidates, losing the electoral support that came with incumbency. They also cited party chairman Richard Holden’s “dishonourable” decision to install himself in a seat 200 miles away from the abolished constituency as the ultimate example of a party caught unprepared.
But those close to Sunak continue to insist they have no choice but to call an early election because so many households are having to remortgage every month. They said former first minister Liz Truss was “almost without exception” blamed by householders for her high costs. Meanwhile, in Downing Street, the autumn campaign was seen as likely to give Nigel Farage the chance to use the Channel crossing even more over the summer.
“If we had waited, Farage would have stood in Clacton,” said one Sunak ally. “But instead of focusing on Farage for five weeks, the focus would have been on him for four, five or six months. That’s in a context where there could be more boats crossing the Channel. We thought it best to go early – and I still think it’s the best option.”
There is anger among Sunak’s team at pollsters, who they accuse of exaggerating Labour’s lead and blocking key Conservative messages from getting through. Labour’s big lead meant an early “kitchen sink strategy” of offering voters new policies and tax cuts was largely dismissed as irrelevant.
The altar will be left to dry for this. But really, it’s the whole clown show that gets us
“I was convinced that we should ban polls during the campaigns,” said one campaign figure. “The reason we started talking about supermajorities was because in all our research people didn’t believe we were going to win. Three weeks after the manifesto launch it was crystal clear that nothing was really working because nobody believed it would happen. That was a direct result of it being an MRP.” [multilevel regression and post-stratification] poll every day. Labor won by just 10 points in the end.”
But several senior Conservatives – even those who blame Sunak for the decision to hold an early election – suggested the timing had little bearing on the outcome. “It’s a mad night… Sunak will be left out to dry for this,” said one. “But in reality, it’s the whole clown show that’s caught us out.” Another former minister said the result was “not unexpected”, adding: “The reality is this is lost in 2022. The loss of trust and credibility for competence is ingrained.”
As well as the scorn flying around the party after the Conservative defeat, some of those leaving Downing Street believe they can sow the seeds of an early recovery by learning from Keir Starmer. Rather than a major shift to the left or right, he said, simply showing “basic competence” could be enough to reassure people about the Conservatives, given the lack of enthusiasm for Labour.
“Labour will face the same problem we had in 2019 – immediately after Brexit, our electoral coalition was gone. The thing that brought the voters in – getting rid of the Conservatives – will have been done straight away. It’s not clear how they will retain that base when MPs are worried about Reform or Gaza. We just need to show we’re not divided.
“It probably sounds weird and crazy because we had a big election loss, but we’re pretty optimistic. There’s immediate disappointment, but underneath the surface there’s some optimism about the future. That’s the nature of the volatility that we’re seeing.”
As the investigation gathered pace this weekend, it was all too much for a minister who had lost his seat and preferred to disappear for a while and not think about politics at all. “There will be a lot of opinions,” he said. “Almost all of them are wrong.”