LONDON — Four ministers in
Liz Truss’s government on Sunday
urged Conservative colleagues to back the embattled UK prime minister following
a punishing week that exposed deep divisions within the party.
اضافة اعلان
Interior Minister Suella Braverman, former finance
minister Nadhim Zahawi, Commons leader Penny Mordaunt, and Environment Minister
Ranil Jayawardena all wrote articles for Sunday newspapers warning that they
would soon find themselves in opposition unless the party united quickly.
Braverman wrote in The Sun On Sunday, “Those working
with Labour to undermine our prime minister are putting the Conservatives’
chance of victory at the next election in real danger.
“So the choice for my colleagues and for us is as
party is simple — Back Liz or get (Labour leader)
Keir Starmer, hand-in-hand
with (SNP leader) Nicola Sturgeon.”
Braverman, however, was one of several ministers who
went against Downing Street directions during her speech at the chaotic Tory
Party conference this week.
Zahawi wrote in the Mail On Sunday that the
government had made mistakes unrolling its fiscal policy, which led to a
humiliating climbdown over a plan to cut income tax rates for the top earners.
But he said that “now is the time” to rally behind
Truss, again warning that rebels risked ushering in a Labour government
“propped up” by the SNP.
Fresh polling by Opinium for the Observer has put
Truss’s personal approval rating at minus 47.
In a sign of her fallibility, cabinet ministers are
reported to be joining forces to demand Truss rules out mooted plans to raise
benefits in line with wages rather than inflation, The Sunday Times reported.
Former leadership rival Mordaunt was one of those
who spoke out on the issue during the party conference. But she struck a
conciliatory tone in a Sunday Telegraph article.
“You measure leaders when they are in the ring
dazzled by the media lights taking punch after punch and taking the hard
decisions required,” she wrote.
“All my colleagues have a part to play in delivering
for the British people. Division will only play into the hands of those who
would take our country in the wrong direction.”
Jayawardena meanwhile wrote in the Sunday Express
that Tory MPs must “get behind” the PM.
“We need to back Liz Truss — or get Keir Starmer in
Nicola Sturgeon’s pocket.”
Starmer has vowed not to make an electoral deal with
the SNP, which favors Scottish independence from the rest of the
UK, and said
Labour would rather form a minority government.
Former culture secretary Nadine Dorries is one of
those Conservatives taking aim at Truss’s government.
She warned again on Sunday that the prime minister
would have to change course on certain key policies or see the party’s polling
deficit, currently sitting around 30 points behind Labour, worsen.
“I’m still one of Liz’s biggest supporters,” she
told BBC on Sunday. “Now is the time, while we have a new PM and
administration, to reflect on what’s gone wrong and reverse that poll deficit.
“What we don’t need is a disruptor. We need a
unifier.”
Read more Region and World
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
