KEMI: 'STIRRING TORY PLOTTERS MUST 'STOP MESSING AROUND'

TORY plotters have been told to "stop messing around" by Kemi Badenoch who insisted those touting her to replace Rishi Sunak "are not my friends".

- Martyn Brown

'People are creating problems... they need to get behind Rishi'

The Cabinet minister warned rebels who are "just stirring" that they must not treat Prime Ministers "as if they are disposable".

Her attack comes days after MP Sir Simon Clarke called for a new Tory leader before the general election, claiming the party faces a "massacre".

Business Secretary Mrs Badenoch has emerged as the favourite minister among Tory members, but she said speculation about her ambitions was "all a distraction".

An unidentified group of Tory donors has funded polling which suggests the party is set for a 1997-style wipeout at the election. It has been claimed that rebels want to crown Mrs Badenoch as leader in May in a bid to make her "the next Mrs Thatcher".

But she said: "A lot of people who are going around doing this are creating problems and difficulties that the party, and more importantly the country, does not need.

"I fully support the PM and I have said many times that I stood to be leader and lost. And the last time we had a contest after Liz Truss resigned I said that the right person to lead the country was Rishi Sunak, and I still believe that to be the case."