Senior Tories are pleading with the party to avoid the “weapons-grade idiocy” of a further drift to the right, amid a concerted and organised effort from grandees to stop a kneejerk leadership contest.
Figures from Rishi Sunak’s cabinet, prominent MPs who lost their seats and former prime minister David Cameron are among those involved in working to secure a repeat of the 2005 contest, which eventually saw Cameron installed as leader seven months after an election defeat.
