New Tory chair Greg Hands warns party only has 18 MONTHS to turn around dire polls before general election… as he denies Rishi Sunak could not find a big hitter for the job
New Tory chair Greg Hands has warned the party only has 18 months to turn around dire polls – and denied that Rishi Sunak struggled to find a big hitter for the job.
Mr Hands was promoted to the key role in the PM’s mini-reshuffle yesterday, alongside a major overhaul of Whitehall departments.
But many MPs were underwhelmed by the techy shake-up, with fears Mr Sunak is not being radical enough to change his political fortunes.
In a round of interviews this morning, veteran minister Mr Hands admitted that local elections in May will be ‘difficult’. A Redfield & Wilton Strategies poll this week put Labour 26 points ahead, enough for a huge landslide.
But he argued that the party is ‘in good shape’ and can ‘set the platform’ for a general election – suggesting that will happen in the Autumn of next year.
Greg Hands (pictured on Sky News this morning) was promoted to Tory chair in the PM’s mini-reshuffle yesterday, alongside a major overhaul of Whitehall departments
A Redfield & Wilton Strategies poll this week put Labour 26 points ahead, enough for a huge landslide
Mr Hands, who had been trade minister, replaced sacked Conservative Party chairman Nadhim Zahawi yesterday.
‘The Conservative Party is in good shape,’ he told GB News.
He also said that he was ‘fully up to date with all of my taxes and no problems there at all’.
He dismissed suggestions Mr Sunak had struggled to fill the party chairman role, insisting: ‘I am not aware of that… The time taken was to do the wider reshuffle.’
Looking ahead to May, he said: ‘It’s not a secret to say that this year’s local elections will be a difficult set of local elections for the party. But the important thing is that we do as well as we can and set the platform for a general election next year.’
A general election must take place before January 2025.
In a message to Tory activists last night Mr Hands wrote: ‘The next 18 months will see us win or lose the next general election.’
In the most eye-catching move of the reshuffle, outspoken Red Wall MP Lee Anderson – a former Labour councillor – was appointed as Mr Hands’ deputy.
Mr Hands said he would not getting into a ‘running commentary’ about some of the Ashfield MP’s previous stances – such as arguing people on low incomes need to learn to cook, and nurses on £30,000 do not require food banks.
The PM met his tweaked Cabinet yesterday, saying the reorganisation would help tackle energy security issues
‘I’m not going to give a running commentary on things that may have been said in the past.
‘What I will say is that Lee Anderson is a fantastic asset to the party. He is a man of great integrity. Fantastic background, former coal miner and actually until, not that long ago, a member of the Labour Party and so he’s somebody I think who bring something different to the party and I think he and I will work very well together,’ Mr Hands told Times Radio.
He said that the pair get on ‘absolutely fantastically’.
‘He’ll be a great asset to the party. Of course, I’ve got other deputy chairman and vice chairman as well. We’ve got a great team at Conservative headquarters’.
