ivisions are on the rise in the Conservativesafter the Chancellor’s mini-budget caused turmoil in the markets and spoke of a financial crisis.
With Liz Truss only in office for a few weeks, the mood in the party seems once again divided as: some MPs reacted to tax-cutting plans announced on Friday by Kwasi Kwarteng, with a prominent backseat member calling his party leader’s plan “inept insanity”.
It comes as the bank of England was forced to launch an emergency bond-buying program to prevent borrowing costs from spiraling out of control and to avert a “material risk to the UK’s financial stability”.
The International Monetary Fund, in a highly unusual move, has already expressed serious concerns about the mini-budget.
The crisis has prompted Labor and other opposition parties to call for the recall of parliamentSo MPs can hear from the chancellor about his plans to restore market confidence.
On Wednesday there were signs of outright concern within the party, with MPs – some of whom supported Rishi Sunak in the leadership contest – publicly expressing their own dismay at the political and economic chaos of recent days.
Mel Stride, conservative chairman of the Commons Treasury Committee, warned “there is a lot of concern within the parliamentary party, no doubt about it”.
He told Sky News: “I don’t want to speculate about the chancellor’s future, except that I think where the party should be at the moment is really uniting at a time of economic crisis.
“The last thing we want now is a political crisis to make that worse, and I think we’re really focusing on this growth problem.”
Simon Hoare, the chairman of the Northern Ireland Select Committee, quoted former Conservative Chancellor Norman Lamont during the sterling crisis of 1992 when he tweeted: “These are not circumstances beyond the control of the Government/Treasury Department. They are written there. This clumsy madness cannot continue.”
Tory MP Robert Largan also came out calling the decision to cut the top income tax rate a “mistake” when “the government’s fiscal leeway is so limited”.
The High Peak MP tweeted: “This is a very worrying time. Elected officials must be honest about the choices we face and the government must take a pragmatic, fiscally responsible approach to the short-term support needed for people and long-term strategic thinking to ensure our energy security.
Unrest is also brewing in wider conservative circles.
Nick Timothy, former Prime Minister Theresa May’s chief of staff, attacked the government’s plan.
“This is not conservatism,” he tweeted.
“And it’s not what conservatives do. Ideology and unnecessary risk with market confidence should be the other side. We do need a different plan, but this is a disaster that should never have happened.”
Nevertheless, some defenders of the Prime Minister were vocal, with a Conservative colleague suggesting that the crisis in the markets was caused by concerns about the possibility of a Labor government.
Daniel Hannan, one of the main Conservative voices behind the push to leave the EU, wrote an article for the ConservativeHome website addressing market concerns over the £45bn package of tax cuts announced by Mr Kwarteng .
In the piece, published Wednesday and immediately mocked online, Lord Hannan wrote: “What we’ve seen since Friday is partly a market adjustment to the greater chance that Sir Keir Starmer will win in 2024 or 2025 – leading to higher taxes , higher spending and a weaker economy.”
He suggested that the response to the mini-budget was driven by “motivated reasoning”.
“Some pundits don’t like Truss, others have never forgiven the Tories for Brexit, still others are shocked at the idea that growth, rather than equality, should be the government’s priority.
“Fair. But let’s be clear about what’s going on.”
Blaming these small tax cuts for the pound’s drop is akin to a fly alighting on an exhausted gourd as it goes to sleep, telling itself it wrestled the mighty beast to the ground.
Lord Hannan downplayed the importance of the tax cuts in historical terms.
“Blaming these small tax cuts for the pound’s fall is like a fly that alights on an exhausted county horse as it goes to sleep and tells itself it has wrestled the mighty beast to the ground.”
The article was praised by Lord Frost, the former Brexit negotiator, who called it an “excellent piece”.
However, many mocked the article online, rejecting the peer’s analysis.
Sir Keir Starmer also called the comments “complete nonsense”.
The Labor leader told C4 News: “That’s just a ridiculous claim. I don’t even think the Tory party takes that seriously.
“It’s very clear that this is a direct result of Friday’s budget.”
Elsewhere, Julian Smith, a Tory MP and former government minister, reacted vehemently to comments by Lord Frost that dismissed the concerns of the IMF.
“Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,” he tweeted.