Rishi Sunak flew back to Britain from the US on Friday to a simmering row over Boris Johnson’s resignation honours.
The Prime Minister was due to head to a meeting in Doncaster of ToryMPs, with many under threat of losing their Northern seats in the former “Red Wall”.
Other Cabinet ministers were also due to address the gathering of the Northern Research Group amid restlessness in the party as polls show it lagging by a double-digit gap behind Labour.
Mr Sunak, after what is being seen as a largely successful two-day visit to Washington, partly to boost trans-Atlantic economic ties, also faced more controversy over Mr Johnson.
Labour were seeking to portray the PM as “weak” for not taking the “shredder” to Mr Johnson’s resignation honours list which reportedly could be published as soon as Friday.
Mr Sunak remained tight-lipped about whether he had accepted the nominations list — which is said to contain about 50 names — when quizzed in Washington.
Mr Sunak said: “I can completely understand the interest in this topic. All I can say is there is a process that is currently under way. It has not concluded yet and until it does, it would not be right for me to comment any further.”
But Sir Keir Starmer suggested the Conservative Party leader was having to “appease different bits” of the governing party with his handling of the honours roll.
The Times reported that the list had been trimmed, with ex-culture secretary Nadine Dorries and Sir Alok Sharma, president of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, taken off.
If they are not given peerages, it would avoid two by-elections. Sir Alok holds a 4,000-vote majority over Labour in his Reading West constituency and Labour could win there. Ms Dorries, who has already announced her plan to quit as the MP for Mid Bedfordshire at the next election, has a majority of 24,600 but the Liberal Democrats are gearing up to target any by-election there.
Mr Johnson’s father, Stanley Johnson, has also reportedly been taken off the list. Former prime minister Liz Truss, despite being the shortest serving prime minister in modern British political history, has also reportedly submitted a short resignation honours list.
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson has been given the findings of an investigation by the Privileges Committee into whether he misled Parliament over the partygate scandal, it was reported. Mr Johnson was said to have been given two weeks to respond before the committee publishes its final verdict. He denies intentionally or recklessly misleading Parliament.
