International

A fresh civil war has erupted within the Conservatives after a top ally of Liz Truss and Boris Johnson called for Rishi Sunak to be sacked and replaced.

Former cabinet minister Sir Simon Clarke said the Tories would be “massacred” at the coming election unless the party had a new leader.
     But senior Tories lashed out at his “foolish” and “facile” move, while former defence secretary Ben Wallace warned it was “division and another PM [that] would lead to the certain loss of power”.
     As his attempted coup fizzled to a halt even his allies turned on him. Organisers made clear he would not now speak at a Popular Conservativism conference next month, even though the posters for the event feature his picture. A source told The Independent that they had “dumped” him.

Supporters of Mr Sunak suspect the intervention by Sir Simon, who was levelling up secretary in Ms Truss’s cabinet and awarded a knighthood by Mr Johnson, is the latest evidence of a carefully planned right-wing plot against the PM.