TORY MPs are being briefed to “unite” and “deliver stability” as members are being warned that no governing party has changed leader twice without a General Election in the post-war era.
The document outlined key messages to Tory MPs ahead of Liz Truss’s third PMQs since taking office and included a warning from party grandees that now was the time to “unite or wither” amid the threat of the Labour party winning the keys to No 10.
Shared on Twitter last night, the briefing paper stressed that the alternative to showing solidarity was "putting the Labour-led anti-growth coalition into power".
Included in the memo was a message from former Tory Party chairmen Lord Mcloughlin and Lord pickles.
It said: “Now is the time to unite or wither.
“We need to spend the next two years relentlessly focused, and united, on delivering for the British people.”
Number 10 fight back tonight. Key lines going out to Tory MPs: - “Now is the time to unite and deliver stability”. - no party has changed leader twice in between elections - if the party doesn’t unite, you run the risk of Labour taking power. pic.twitter.com/tDLDk2p3Y6
— Theo Usherwood (@theousherwood) October 18, 2022
The document also offered talking points for MPs ranging from the Tories’ bid to “secure energy independence” in the wake of the Russian invasion, to attack lines on the Labour party – including an accusation that Labour are “in the pockets of trade union barons”.
This follows a prolonged period of turmoil for the party as Liz Truss ushered in a fourth UK Chancellor this year, Jeremy Hunt, who promptly ripped up her flagship mini-budget that caused the value of the pound to plummet and put pension funds at risk of collapse.
Truss will hope that the document will serve to bolster support within her party ahead of Wednesday’s PMQs, which will be the Prime Minister’s first appearance in the Commons since Cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt stood in for her to answer an urgent question on Monday.
The PM's absence in answering Keir Starmer’s urgent question on the sacking of former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng prompted jokes in the Commons that Truss was “hiding under a desk” – something Mordaunt denied at the despatch box.
Commenting on the briefing paper, Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman said that while Truss had "only been in Downing Street for a matter of weeks", she's "already done damage that could take years to repair".
Chapman added: "Now, with Jeremy Hunt in the Treasury, we are looking at even more cuts on top of 12 years of Tory austerity.
"You can guarantee that none of the 'tough decisions' we are hearing about will be tough for their millionaire donors or rich friends, it will be ordinary people and communities who are made to pay the price.
"We didn't vote for any of this. Nobody did. Liz Truss has no legitimacy and nor do the catastrophic and inhumane decisions she is making.
"With the powers of independence we can build a fairer, greener future. We can get away from the chaos of Liz Truss and whoever succeeds her."
SNP MP Mhairi Black said that "regardless of how 'united' Tory MPs act" Liz Truss has "sealed her fate".
She added: "Within a matter of weeks, the Prime Minister has driven the economy off a cliff and left the housing market and pensions on the verge of collapse.
"Voters up and down the country are feeling the effects of this crisis - and they will not forget who is to blame.
"However, for as long as Scotland finds itself under Westminster control, we will continue to be at the mercy of governments we do not vote for.
"Only with independence can we rid ourselves of the Tories for good - and forge a more progressive, greener future."
