Sunak being ‘propped up’ by 1922 committee ‘stooges’, claim MPs

Frustrated backbenchers claim some senior members of parliamentary group may have been ‘bought off with the promise of gongs and peerages’

The Conservative Party’s 1922 Committee has the power to make or break the careers of MPs, right up to the party’s leader. Indeed, it has sealed the fate of two recent prime ministers.
In the dying days of both Boris Johnson’s and Liz Truss’ time in office, it fell on Sir Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Committee, to pay them a visit in Downing Street and tell them that the game was up.
The committee, which last year celebrated its 100th year anniversary, was set up to represent the interests of backbench MPs. It operates behind closed doors, holding weekly meetings with MPs and acting as a conduit between the Conservative parliamentary party and the Government.
Given the amount of influence it wields, it is no surprise that the 1922 Committee occasionally attracts the ire of fellow MPs. But in recent weeks, frustration among backbenchers has reached boiling point, with the committee’s members accused of acting as “stooges” for the Prime Minister.
As one former Cabinet minister put it, far from acting as “shop stewards”, the 1922 Committee are now seen by some Tory MPs as “propping up Rishi”.
One MP told The Telegraph: “They no longer represent the parliamentary party. It has become a thank you club for Rishi. They are just his stooges.” And they claimed that some senior members of the committee may have been “bought off with gongs and peerages”.
Another veteran MP and former officer of the 1922 Committee echoed this sentiment, saying: “One of the problems is that too many of the officers of the ’22 are not standing again as MPs, so what are they looking for? They are looking at their ticket to the House of Lords.”
“They should be more representative of what’s happening. In terms of their relationship with the PM, there should be a healthy tension between the two. They are not really doing their job of robustly defending the interests of backbench MPs.”
The MPs argue that since some of the senior members of the committee are standing down at the next election, they feel less inclined to rock the boat with Downing Street as they already have one foot out of the door and are, if anything, seeking to curry favour with Mr Sunak.
Sir Graham has said he will not stand again as an MP, as has William Wragg, one of the committee’s joint chairs along with Jo Gideon, an executive member. A Downing Street source said they do not recognise claims about promises of peerages and gongs.
Some believe those MPs who have said they will stand down at the next election should give up their places on the committee to make way for fresh faces.
One former Cabinet minister said: “Most people feel that the 1922 Committee is not a useful body for expressing frustration to the PM. You either go to someone in Downing Street yourself, or you go by other routes, or you go public with it.
“No one can even remember their names apart from Graham Brady who is leaving at the next election anyway – that changes the position. It makes him a lame duck.”
Others believe the rise of factions in the Conservative Party – the so-called “five families” – is in part a response to the lack of trust in the 1922 Committee’s ability to adequately convey the feelings of the MPs to ministers.
The rise of factions “speak to how divided the party is” and “shows how broken the 1922 Committee is. We are just not a functioning party”, claim MPs.
The New Conservatives is the most recent of the groupings, it was set up in May of last year and predominantly counts members of the 2019 election intake amongst its members.
Representing the biggest single grouping within the Tories, the One Nation group encompasses a large number of MPs from the centrist section of the party.
The European Research Group (ERG) is seen as one of the most influential within the Tory party and played a major role during the Brexit negotiations.
The Common Sense Group was inspired by the ERG and launched in November 2020 to give Right-wing MPs a forum to coordinate on policy initiatives. Finally, the Northern Research Group is made up of Tory MPs which represent constituencies in the north.
For some in the party, suspicion around the motives of the 1922 Committee dates back to the last Tory party leadership contest. “He was put in position and is being kept in position by the 1922 committee,” said one MP.
At the time of the last leadership contest, the 1922 Committee drew up the rules along with the Conservative Party board.
The rules stated that only candidates who can secure the nomination of 100 Tory MPs – out of roughly 360 available – can make it into the MPs’ voting round. This meant that Rishi Sunak was crowned as party leader and Prime Minister without a vote going out to the Tory party members, as it did with his predecessor Ms Truss.
John Strafford, chair of the grassroots group Conservative Campaign For Democracy, said there is “no doubt at all” that the 1922 Committee is keeping Mr Sunak in power.
“When Rishi became Prime Minister, the ’22 committee acted in liaison with the party board and changed the existing system of how many people were needed to nominate a candidate,” he said. 
“They just quite disgracefully changed the rules and there was no consultation with the party members.”
One senior MP said: “The way in which the rules were manipulated in order to prevent there being a proper contest, to prevent Boris being able to come back and so on, all of that showed them to be not objective and out for themselves.”
However, even those who criticise the committee, still heap praise on Sir Graham who is widely respected by his colleagues. “Graham to his credit has always been very discreet, hasn’t revealed what he said to prime ministers but has handled with reasonable distinction a number of different occasions,” one MP said.
Sir Graham said: “Most of the work of the officers and executive of the 1922 Committee is done privately and is more effective for it. We also provide a regular open forum in which all colleagues can express their views.”