Monday, June 17, 2024
From bad to worse for the Tories
Just when you thought that the Tory election campaign couldn't hit new depths, the Deputy poliical editor of the Daily Mail tweets that Rishi Sunak has managed to upset some major Tory donors.
Anna Mikhailova reports that Sunak has pulled out of attending his party's Black and White Ball this week, despite the fact that tickets were on sale at £1,500 each, with him as the main guest.
Already this week the shambolic Tory campaign has had to contend with a betting scandal involving the Prime Minister's parliamentary private secretary, an expenses scandal in the Welsh Senedd involving a shadow Tory cabinet member and, of course, they are still reeling from Sunak leaving the D-Day commemoration events early, a decision designed to enrage the most hardened Tory supporter.
Mikhailova tweets that donors were told that Sunak will skip the Ball to attend a TV debate, but they aren't buying it:
'He just needs to pop in for half an hour' one said. ‘You leave D-Day early, you don’t go to the summer party, how can you expect other people to turn up for you?’
She adds that the bash - at the Hurlingham Club in London - is one of the party’s biggest fundraisers at a time when the party is already struggling to draw donations, but some donors are already asking for refunds.
Talks are now underway over who will replace Sunak as key speaker at the Ball, no doubt running parallel with manoeuvring to replace him as Tory leader.
