Tory leader contest up in air as party figures disagree on timetable

Senior Tories have failed to reach agreement about a timetable for their leadership contest, with a big split existing between key figures in the party.

It means no decision will be made on selecting a new leader until at least next week, when the executive of the 1922 Committee of backbenchers will meet again.

The former prime minister Rishi Sunak is understood to have made clear that an interim leader would need to be selected before parliament’s recess if the party were to decide on a longer contest.

The party board held a five-hour meeting on Thursday where it is understood they were told no firm timetable had been agreed by the 1922 Committee executive.

A Conservative party spokesperson said: “The party board met today and had a good discussion about the options for the leadership process presented by the 1922 executive committee. The [committee] will meet again and announce the leadership process next week.”

Bob Blackman, the newly elected chair of the committee, said the meeting had set out the parameters for the contest.

A proposal had been put forward for candidates to submit their nominations before August, giving them the summer to make their case publicly. MPs would then whittle down the candidates to two early in September and open member-voting with a final hustings at party conference and a leader announced.

A faster contest is favoured by those in the party who are concerned about its financial peril and the concern that no donors will return while the party is rudderless. Party conference is also a key time to raise funds for the party. “There is no value in using that time for the old leader or to take chunks out of each other,” said one Tory source.

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Another source said: “There isn’t a massive difference between the campaigns [on the timing] but there is an element of delusion on the part of some in the party that Sunak will just keep on going.”

A number of MPs are said to believe that Sunak’s performance at the king’s speech debate had crystallised the necessity of an interim leader if the contest were to go on beyond conference time.

Sunak spoke to defeated Conservative MPs at the Carlton Club later in the evening, going table to table and speaking to each group. He just kept on repeating “I’m sorry”, said a former MP, who was at the club event.

One senior Tory source said it was impossible to see how Sunak could continue as leader of the opposition when Starmer would consistently point to his record in government, and given he would have no authority to set direction or take a position on new policy.

“He’s been only motivated by the interests of the party and the country,” said one source close to Sunak.

A former MP expressed the concerns of others impatient for the process to move ahead. “The longer we allow Labour to go unmarked the more time we give them to do what we did to them in 2010 and set the longer-term narrative. We need to move.”

But other sources said the mood among MPs was building towards a longer contest and an interim leader, which would mean debate between the candidates taking place at conference but no voting until mid autumn. Some even favoured a contest lasting until 2025.

“We need to take our time to find a candidate, who will be in this for the long haul and has the endurance to do what it takes, not just someone who looks good in a short TV interview,” said one MP. “We’ve got a model right in front of us across the floor. Starmer showed that you can bring a party back from the brink after the Corbyn years. It should be doable for us. There are a lot of fairly slim Labour majorities.”