Ben Houchen: Tories vying to replace Sunak are bidding for my support
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Ben Houchen, the Conservative mayor for Tees Valley, has revealed that Tory leadership hopefuls vying to replace Rishi Sunak are bidding for his support ahead of the general election.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Lord Houchen said he had been contacted by prominent Conservatives asking him what direction he thinks the party should take in an apparent attempt to lay the groundwork for a future leadership contest.
But he urged “pathetic” MPs “on manoeuvres” to focus on rallying behind the Prime Minister, warning that their behaviour was “costing the Conservative Party”.
He said ousting Mr Sunak before the next election would be “catastrophic”, telling Tory plotters they would be responsible for the party’s demise if they forced another leadership change.
Lord Houchen’s fate at the mayoral elections on May 2 will provide an early indication of Mr Sunak’s ability to cling on in the Red Wall.
Having secured a landslide victory in in Tees Valley with 73 per cent of the vote in 2021, the mayor is seen as a major Tory asset in the North – but he could face a stunning defeat after a poll last month put him 25 points behind Labour rival Chris McEwan.
Speaking to The Telegraph in Yarm, near Darlington, Lord Houchen – made a peer in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list – dismissed the poll as “nonsense” but acknowledged that things are looking bleak for the Tories on a national level.
He said Mr Sunak “has to make progress” on immigration, which would have a “very significant role” in the election, and admitted that no one in Teesside would be able to name the Prime Minister’s five priorities.
But he urged those plotting against Mr Sunak to focus on the task at hand, saying: “I think those people who are on manoeuvres as potentially being interested in being the next leader of the Conservative Party – they need to stop what they’re doing.
“They’re all doing it, and it is frustrating to see. I’ve been contacted by a number of them, and it’s this type of behaviour that is costing the Conservative Party.”
He refused to name names but gave an insight into the messages he had received, adding: “People don’t come out and say: ‘I’m going to be standing for leader, I want your support.’
“It’s all: ‘Hi, Ben, we haven’t caught up recently, how are things going, we’d really like to help, we should catch up soon, how do you think it’s going to go in the general election?’.
“And then there’s kind of a little bit of: ‘Oh, well, you know, if things don’t go well, have you given any thought to which direction the party should go in, and I’m really keen to help,’ and it’s all that kind of stuff.
“It gives them plausible deniability to be able to say: ‘Oh well, I haven’t been campaigning,’ when everybody knows exactly what they’re doing, and it’s not subtle. It’s a bit pathetic.”
Lord Houchen said it had to be Mr Sunak to lead the Tories into the next election, but added that the Prime Minister “needs more time” for his plan to “bed in” and suggested he should wait until October or November to call a vote.
Asked what would happen if a general election was held tomorrow, he said: “You know the polls as well as I do, right? We’ve got to give people the excuse to vote for us. We haven’t done enough to be able to do that yet.
“There’s still plenty of time, but we’ve still got to do a lot more convincing. And we got to give people the excuse to vote for us that they’re looking for, but I don’t think we are yet in a place where we’ve given them that excuse.”
He warned Tory plotters that ousting Mr Sunak before the election would be “completely catastrophic”, saying: “I think that is just the final nail in the coffin, because the people will completely turn off from the Conservative Party. We will not be considered a serious party at the next general election.
“And so if those people who are considering it actually think that they want to put that into action, then they will be responsible for the Conservative Party losing the next general election.”
He said he got “irritated” by “stupid plots”, adding: “Changing prime minister again for what would be – what, the fourth or fifth time in two years? – you get destroyed at the polls if people think that is the right outcome.”
Lord Houchen stood by his assertion that the Tories had been wrong to oust Mr Johnson in 2021, but would not speculate on a possible comeback by the former prime minister.
However, he said he thought Mr Sunak should embrace the spirit of Mr Johnson – and Lord Cameron, Sir Tony Blair and Sir Keir Starmer – when it comes to courting the centre ground, because that is “where elections are won”.
While he argued that the Red Wall would be “extremely important” at the election, he said it was wrong to suggest the Conservatives had to choose between “Sevenoaks or Redcar” when making their pitch to the public.
“The general election is always won in the centre ground. Look what Keir Starmer’s trying to do, look what Tony Blair did, look what David Cameron did, look what Boris has done,” he said.
“That’s where I think, ultimately, the election will be won and lost. And you can do that by appealing to people who live in north-west Hampshire and people who live in Teesside.”
A Tory loss in Teesside would be widely perceived as a sign that Mr Sunak has lost his grip on the red Wall, traditional Labour heartlands that fell to the Conservatives in recent years.
The Prime Minister would have a lot to answer for – and Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the committee, might find a few more letters from frustrated Conservative MPs landing on his doorstep.
But Lord Houchen was reluctant to draw parallels between the mayoral vote in May and the general election, saying he had “always” positioned himself as a mayor first and a Tory second.
“My vote is so much broader and more eclectic than the Conservative Party vote will be at the general election,” he added. “There is a significant proportion of the electorate who would not vote Conservative, but they would vote for me. That’s why ultimately it’s a local election.
“It depends on what the result is, right? If I lose by 20 points then you probably can make a pretty strong assumption because I am locally more popular than the Conservative Party, so you can probably make a draw across.
“Whereas if I just win by, I don’t know, one vote or a couple of per cent, it’s very difficult to draw a read across because of the way in which the local vote is split.”
Asked by The Telegraph what they made of Lord Houchen, shoppers in central Darlington gave mixed reviews.
Clare, a 70-year-old who has traditionally voted Labour or Liberal Democrat, said she thought he had made a name for himself but the “jury’s out”.
But Roy, 77, who backed Lord Houchen last time, said he could not bring himself to do it again, adding: “I have got a feeling he won’t get in this time. Labour seems to be ruling the roost.”
Reflecting on his future, Lord Houchen said he thought it unlikely he would ever run to be an MP, and he certainly did not want to speculate on whether he would make a good Tory leader.
“I don’t plan, whether I’m mayor or not, ever leaving Teesside. This is my home, this is my life, and this is what I want to do,” he said.
For now, he said he was only thinking three weeks ahead. “My life ends on May 2,” he added. “That’s the hurdle, right?”
