Tories reeling from dire poll ratings escaped for an away-day at a £400-a-night luxury hotel yesterday.
Conservative MPs spent the day and night at the Fairmont Windsor Park where they were bombarded with presentations on how to save their seats at the next election, due by January 2025.
The trip was said to involve a grim polling presentation by Tory strategist Isaac Levido, as well as sessions on data targeting and social media on how they can try and win a fifth consecutive election.
The remainder of the day included a pub quiz hosted by party Chairman Greg Hands, a dinner with the PM, and both pre-dinner and after-dinner drinks until late.
Rishi Sunak arrived that morning to welcome colleagues who turned up throughout the day often in Range Rovers with blacked out windows.
Those rolling in included cabinet ministers Home Secretary Suella Braverman, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan and Energy Secretary Grant Shapps.
Former PM Theresa May also showed her face, as well as long-standing MP Michael Fabricant.
A mixture of backbenchers piled onto coaches heading from central London to the countryside.
Disgraced MP Nadhim Zahawi - who Mr Sunak sacked as Tory Chairman at the end of January - was also spotted.
Boris Johnson was expected to make an appearance later in the day, just hours after bashing the PM’s new Brexit deal, The Windsor Framework, in Westminster.
The hotel was coincidentally the same one as where the deal between Mr Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was agreed on Monday.
The Conservative party booked out the entire 251-bedroom hotel for the away-day, meaning the whole complex (including its seven restaurants and bars) were closed to the public.
Members were only able to make bookings at its Spa & Wellness centre, where spa day collection packages can cost up to £350.
Situated on the edge of historic Windsor Great Park, the luxurious hotel is surrounded by 40 acres of open green space and a lake.
Prices for the public range from around £400-£2,000 a night. Rooms on offer include luxury suites with balcony or garden views, 55-inch TVs and king-size beds.
Dinner at the hotel’s fine dining 1215 Restaurant can cost about £80 for three courses and one side - without alcohol - if chosen from the A La Carte menu.
There is also a seven-course tasting menu on offer for £95.
The gates of the hotel estate were policed at all times, with anyone entering stopped in their tracks.
Beyond the gates was a long, windy, leafy road - lined with fields, tennis courts and a child’s adventure playground.
At the end was a security house where guests were greeted by hotel staff who did further checks on people’s identities. The hotel itself was hidden out of sight.
Undercover police were also poised around the streets of the hotel in unmarked vehicles.
Staff at local pub The Fox & Hounds noted that it was not the first time this week their quaint area had noticed an unusual amount of police after von der Leyen’s visit on Monday.
The area is bound to be used to some form of security presence, however,
with the hotel sitting a few hundred metres from Prince Andrew’s house Royal Lodge.
Despite the elaborate event, Mr Sunak is likely to have had a difficult time lifting the spirits of his colleagues yesterday.
Dozens of Tory MPs have already announced they’re going to stand down at the next general election, with the party staring down the barrel of a Labour government.
A fresh poll for campaign group 38 Degrees today shows the Conservatives would win just 29% of the vote if an election were held tomorrow.
The findings, revealed exclusively to the Mirror, show cost of living failures could see the party left with only 100 Commons seats - down from 355 - after the next election.
Matthew McGregor, CEO at 38 Degrees, said: “As we approach the Spring Budget, it’s clear that Jeremy Hunt and Rishi Sunak have a huge job to do to persuade voters that their Government even understands the cost of living crisis and that they’re ready to do what it takes to protect them from more misery and suffering.”
Labour’s Deputy Leader Angela Rayner said: “No amount of slap-up dinners at posh hotels for his warring Tory MPs will rescue this clapped-out government.
“They’ve run out of ideas, they’ve run out of time and they’ve run out of road.”
