After worst ever Election defeat Tories plan to have a new leader by November (2024)
Depending on how you want to read the statistics the defeat of the Tory Party on July 4th, winning 121 seats, was the worst since 1911 or 1832. Some may wonder what happens next.
Rishi Sunak remains as leader for the moment and the pre-Election talk of a merger between the Tories and Reform, or a split from the Tories to Reform- in other words a realignment on the right continues. The I Paper reported (20th July) that if Braverman can’t get enough backing for a Tory leadership bid she may defect to Reform in the Autumn. Presumably that would be timed for the Tory Conference.
Yet there is the near future too. Sunak has made it clear that he is not hanging around for long, so a new leader, interim or permanent, is required.
When Labour lost in 2019 the Labour right spun it as the worst result since 1935 (when the Party was recovering from the 1931 split- the parallel is too little explored) but that was on seats not total votes. It can hardly have been missed that Labour won in 2024 by getting less votes than Corbyn in 2017 but getting them in the right places. As an Election strategy it worked well..
This post is not about Labour however, simply to note that for a long while after December 2019 much of the media was full of stories and comment about Labour’s travails.
Look for similar media on the Tories post July 4th and you will have struggled. The Spectator and the Times have carried stories. In short new officers of the backbench 1922 Committee have been elected (there was controversy because not all Tory MPs were told about the closing time of the vote)and it has now been announced that a new leader will be in place by November 2024
The process appears convoluted. There is a rump of 121 Tory MPs but the initial plan is for candidates to find 10 MPs who will back them for leader, with (presumably) a maximum of 12 candidates being whittled down to 4 and then 2 for a final vote..
The next question is whether Sunak plans to stay on until November or if an interim leader will be needed.
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