Simon Clarke has been told it would be “good advice” to head to a dark room, lie down and sort himself out, after he called on Rishi Sunak to quit as Conservative leader or risk a Tory “massacre” at the general election.
The postal affairs minister, Kevin Hollinrake, said Clarke’s intervention on Tuesday night was a sign of the “panic” that is brewing in some factions, but said it was not a view held by the wider parliamentary party.
Clarke, a former cabinet minister, said in an op-ed for the Daily Telegraph that Sunak was “leading the Conservatives into an election where we will be massacred”. He added: “He does not get what Britain needs. And he is not listening to what the British people want.”
A number of senior Conservative MPs swiftly criticised his remarks, including the former home secretary Priti Patel, who said “engaging in facile and divisive self-indulgence only serves our opponents”.
Hollinrake told Times Radio: “Of course, some people panic at a difficult time. This is not the overwhelming view of the party.”
When asked if Clarke and other frustrated Tories should head to a dark room, lie down and sort themselves out, Hollinrake told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme: “That’s good advice for Simon but the rest of us are getting on with the job. You’re talking about an isolated position taken by one member of parliament, you’re not talking about the overwhelming view of the parliamentary party.”
In a message to “anyone else who shares his views, Hollinrake added: “Get your head down and get some work done, let’s turn this country around, which is what we’re doing.
After the cabinet minister dismissed calls for Sunak to resign as “isolated”, another senior Conservative lashed out at Clarke for his remarks.
Tobias Ellwood accused Clarke of “throwing his teddies in the corner” because “his choice of prime minister is no longer in No 10”.
He labelled the intervention “dangerous, reckless, selfish” and “defeatist” and urged Clarke and his allies to realise that voters want “unity, unity, unity”.
“I do urge him and others to think really carefully about what they are doing,” Ellwood said.
A confidence vote in the prime minister will be triggered if 53 Tory MPs submit letters to the 1922 Committee. So far, Clarke and the former minister Dame Andrea Jenkyns are the only Conservative MPs to have publicly called for Sunak to go.
The former defence minister Ben Wallace has also weighed into the row, criticising Clarke’s remarks in an article for the Telegraph, insisting “division and another PM would lead to the certain loss of power”.
“My colleague Sir Simon Clarke is wrong,” Wallace wrote, “The way to win the next election is to tackle inflation and grow the economy.
“Rishi is doing just that. Division and another PM would lead to the certain loss of power. We need to focus on delivering for the public not divisive rowing.”
