RISHI Sunak is weighing up a Cabinet clear-out as soon as this week – as Downing Street brace for a triple by-election thumping on Thursday.
No10 could bring forward a reshuffle pencilled in for September to avoid a summer of speculation.
Rishi Sunak is weighing up a Cabinet clear-out as soon as this week – as Downing Street brace for a triple by-election thumping on Thursday
One minister told HOAR last night that “there’s logic to biting the bullet and going now” but other MPs worry the move would look like panic following an expected ballot box drubbing.
Voters in Uxbridge, West London, Selby in Yorkshire and Frome in Somerset are all set to give the government a bloody nose on Thursday.
Senior Tories privately admit efforts to defend the three Tory-held seats “are lost” after the departure of Boris Johnson and his ally Nigel Adams, as well as the cocaine-shame MP David Warburton.
Last night No10 officially insisted there are “no plans” for a reshuffle, but insiders did not rule out one this week.
Top of the list is the search for a new Defence Secretary after Ben Wallace announced he was quitting frontline politics whenever the reshuffle came.
That sparked a day of frenzied Westminster speculation over who could step up to the plum role.
Security Minister Tom Tugendhat and Treasury Chief Secretary John Glen have both been tipped for the job.
As has Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, though that would be regarded as a demotion.
There are questions over the future of Environment Secretary Therese Coffey.
Wider changes are expected in the lower ministerial rungs.
However rumours that Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Home Secretary Suella Braverman could be moved were last night played down as “wide of the mark.”
One No10 source said: “Does the PM think the Chancellor is doing a good job – of course he does.”
