Poll backing Boris is just a clear bid to undermine PM - Tory back-stabbers at their worst! - says Craig Whittaker

It is typical of what we have experienced by those opposing every Prime Minister that has been in post since I became an MP, almost 14 years ago.

It is also an example of the Conservative Parliamentary Party at its worst; hidden agendas, new ‘front men’ leading the charge of foul play, and Machiavellian manoeuvres at its pinnacle.

The trouble with this behaviour is, as time progresses, there are more and more scores to settle and, in the end, we all lose.

Let’s just digest a couple of the poll’s ‘findings’.

“Eighty percent of ‘one-time Conservatives’ agreed that the party would have a higher chance of winning if they had a leader who embraces “traditional Conservative Values”.

So, what are traditional Conservative values? Are these the same “traditional Conservative values” that brought down Theresa May as our Prime Minister?

I can tell you that I was involved with many of the negotiations with the various factions of our ‘broad church’ Conservative Parliamentary Party on virtually every single parliamentary vote we had during that time – all of which thought they were acting in the interests of “traditional Conservative values” – and we still lost more votes than we won.

Those very same factions helped bring down Liz Truss as Prime Minister too. I saw firsthand, as Deputy Chief Whip, the lengths that some colleagues went to undermine her premiership, all in the name of “traditional Conservative Values” when, in reality, it was because they had their own agenda.

“Just over half of those who voted Conservative in 2019 – but who now intend to vote for a different party – would vote for Mr. Johnson again.”

I always respected Boris. I owe my record beating fourth term as MP for Calder Valley to his leadership, securing almost 52 per cent of the vote.

A statistic no other MP in Calder Valley has ever achieved, even under Margaret Thatcher after her Falklands victory, Sir Donald Thompson only achieved shy of 44 per cent of the vote. Our 2019 victory was all down to the popularity of Boris Johnson.

Boris, however, was hugely divisive. Yes, we gained votes from people who had never voted Conservative before, but he also turned off a lot of our core vote.

Why? Because of those traditional Conservative values again. The older generation within our core vote were turned off by his style and whilst they wouldn’t vote for anyone else, they just didn’t turn out to vote. Many too cancelled their membership.

The real problem is the Conservative Parliamentary Party. Behind the Prime Minister’s back with daggers drawn is a graveyard full of discarded Ministers, colleagues who think they can be Prime Minister, and colleagues who wouldn’t know what loyalty is, even if it bit them on the backside!

The electorate don’t like personal negative campaigning. In my almost 30-year experience of fighting elections at all levels of our democracy, I have never once attacked my opponent personally – always stuck to policy.

My opponents have attacked me and my family, but it absolutely turns the electorate off. I would go as far as saying that my opponent targeting me personally in the 2017 General Election, almost certainly pushed me over the line to our third term win.

I only had a 609 majority, but when many of my Conservative MP neighbours fell, many with bigger majorities to lose, it was the vile personal onslaught that brought people over to our side in a very tight race.

People on the doorstep tell me this, and if they tell me, they tell my Parliamentary colleagues this too. Why then do we have yet another personal attack on our Prime Minister in the guise of a concerned donor. I don’t buy it and the British public shouldn’t either.

The only real way to win an election is to do the opposite of what this poll proposes. A united party gives a united win. A divided party means nobody wins.