The foreign secretary is expected to be appointed on Monday as the new Tory leader and then enter Downing Street as prime minister on Tuesday, after visiting the Queen at Balmoral. But after a bitterly divisive seven-week campaign against former chancellor Rishi Sunak, senior party figures fear she may be preparing her government with a mix of Johnson loyalists and right-wingers such as John Redwood and Ian Duncan Smith. inflammatory intensity with moderate. On Saturday night, a former Tory cabinet minister and Johnson critic said there would be huge and “explosive” consequences if Truce allies such as Duncan Smith and Nadine Dorries were appointed to top jobs and then tried to use their influence to quash a parliamentary inquiry into whether Johnson deliberately misled parliament. Duncan Smith has put his name to a parliamentary motion calling for the Privileges Committee inquiry – which could lead to Johnson being suspended – to be “slammed”, while Dorries has made it clear she supports such a move. The privilege committee has been tasked with finding out whether Johnson deliberately misled parliament by denying knowledge of lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street. A former minister said there would be explosive consequences if the likes of Nadine Dorries were appointed to senior roles. Photo: Henry Nicholls/Reuters The former cabinet minister said: “If she wins, then on policy matters, including fiscal matters, most colleagues will feel she deserves a chance to implement her plans. It will go through parliament. But if her government tries to do things on the integrity issues, I think there could be a problem very early on. That would be explosive.” The intensity of Johnson’s past behavior is an indication of how his presence may hamper Truss as he tries to keep his allies happy while governing the country at a time of deepening economic crisis. Another former cabinet minister and Johnson critic, David Davis, said that because Truss would have won the keys to No 10 with the support of less than a third of Tory MPs, it was vital that she unite the parliamentary party with a “big tent”. approach to forming its government. “It is incredibly important that the new leader unites the party. It was one of Boris’s first failures that he did not. He simply picked on the loyalists and thereby made it increasingly difficult to manage the party. “It is not only in the interest of the party, but in the interest of implementing serious policy and winning the next election. None of this is possible with a divided party.” Amanda Milling, foreign secretary and former party chair, said: “This leadership contest has been toxic and damaging to the Conservative party brand. As he concludes, the whole party, from front bench to back bench, must come together as a united team to deliver for the British people and defeat Labour. If we don’t, we risk being out of power for a decade.” Tory MP Kevin Hollinrake, a member of the Treasury select committee who still believes Sunak can triumph and has banked on him to do so, said the party needed to regain a reputation for competence and unity in the next 18 months or face defeat and not dwell on past divisions. He said: “We’re not going to win the next election with a divided party, so it’s absolutely vital that whoever wins brings people from different camps.” As well as rewarding Johnson loyalists such as Duncan Smith, Redwood and Jacob Rees-Mogg, Truss is expected to offer top jobs to key backers Kwasi Kwarteng, Suella Braverman, James Cleverly and Thérèse Coffey, while pushing back those who did not support her. including health secretary Steve Barclay and environment secretary George Eustice. A senior minister predicted early revolts unless Truss adopted a big stage approach. “If he does what is rumored and brings back Redwood and Duncan Smith, there will be hell to pay. You will have senior officials joining forces, consuming tempting budget amendments and all, awarding red wall MPs away from her. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. “It’s going to be absolute chaos unless he makes a really concerted effort to dip into all the different factions that make up the party. If she doesn’t do that, I think this could be a really, really difficult time for her and therefore for us.” Truss is expected to reward those who supported her such as Suella Braverman. Photo: Henry Nicholls/Reuters Former chief whip Mark Harper said that given the divisions within the parliamentary party “whoever wins would do well to appoint a broad-based cabinet and government that draws on talent from across the parliamentary party so that we can create a more cohesive feeling and working together to get us through what is going to be a very difficult fall, winter and new year.” MPs said they expected an “absolutely massive package” of aid to be announced by Truss in her first weeks as leader, despite claims during the recent campaign that she opposed what she saw as “handouts”. One MP said there was talk of aid of several tens of billions, paid back by the state over a long period of time. Despite the expectation of a clear victory for Truss, the Observer poll finds she has indeed lost ground among Conservative voters as the leadership race moves forward. Among those who voted Conservative in 2019, the net proportion who think Truss is “getting things done” was 26% in July. This has now dropped to 5%. The net percentage who see her as a “strong leader” has fallen from 13% to -4%, while the net percentage who see her as prime minister-in-waiting has fallen from 5% to -11%. It will be seen as a sign that he has been propelled into the leadership by the early momentum he won in the contest after backing tens of billions in tax cuts. While some of Sunak’s closest allies still believe the contest is extremely close, with some late voters splitting in his favor, Truss is the overwhelming favorite. Ryan Shorthouse, chief executive of thinktank Bright Blue, said: “If he simply surrounds himself with Boris’s fan club, creates a succession office of the same old faces and uses the same arguments, policies and tactics as Johnson, they will quickly lose confidence of the parliamentary party. The audience will feel that nothing has changed.” On Monday, One Nation’s 60-member group of Tory MPs will meet in the House of Commons to discuss how they will react to the outcome of the leadership contest. Tory moderates fear Truss may try to stamp her mark on the leadership with moves to suspend the Northern Ireland protocol and perhaps even remove the UK from the European Court of Human Rights. “This is going to be a litmus test for a lot of people,” said a senior executive. “If he goes down that path, there will be trouble. Everything indicates that it will not be very comprehensive. I expect she will offer Rishi something in the hope and expectation that he will refuse, but otherwise I think it will be her people.”
