Conservative leaders have failed to agree on a timetable for their leadership race, amid a sharp division among key party figures.
This means no decision will be made on selecting a new leader until at least next week, when the executive committee of the 1922 Committee of backbenchers meets again.
Former prime minister Rishi Sunak is understood to have made clear that an interim leader would have to be chosen before the parliamentary recess if the party decided to hold a longer contest.
The party committee held a five-hour meeting on Thursday, at which it appears that no firm timetable was agreed by the 1922 executive committee.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “The party council met today and had a good discussion on the options for the leadership process presented by the 1922 executive committee. [committee] will meet again and announce the leadership process next week.
Bob Blackman, the committee’s newly elected chairman, said the meeting set the parameters for the competition.
It has been proposed that candidates submit their nominations by August, giving them the summer to publicly make their case. MPs could then narrow the field to two by early September and open the membership vote with a final meeting at the party convention and the announcement of the leader.
Party supporters who worry that the party’s finances are in jeopardy and who fear that donors will not return while the party is adrift favor a faster race. The party convention is also a key fundraising moment for the party. “There is no point in using this time for the old leader or taking stakes in each other,” said one conservative source.
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Another source said: “There is no huge difference between the campaigns. [on the timing] But some in the party are under the illusion that Sunak will simply carry on.
A number of MPs believe Sunak’s performance in the debate on the King’s Speech has crystallised the need for an interim leader if the contest is to continue beyond the duration of the conference.
Later that evening, Sunak spoke to defeated Conservative MPs at the Carlton Club, going from table to table and addressing each group. He kept repeating, “I’m sorry,” said one former MP at the club event.
A senior Conservative source said it was impossible to see how Sunak could continue as opposition leader while Starmer constantly stressed his record in government, and given that he would have no authority to set direction or take a position on new policy.
“He was driven purely by the interests of the party and the country,” said a source close to Sunak.
One former MP voiced the concerns of others, who were impatient to see the process move forward. “The more we let Labour get on with it, the more time we give them to do what we did to them in 2010 and set the long-term story. We have to move on.”
Other sources, however, said the mood among MPs was leaning toward a longer campaign and an interim leader, which would mean debates between candidates would take place at conference but no votes would be taken until mid-autumn. Some even favoured a campaign that would last until 2025.
“We need to take our time to find a candidate who is going to be around for the long haul and who has the stamina to do the right thing, not just someone who looks good in a short TV interview,” one MP said. “We have a model right in front of us. Starmer has shown that it is possible to bring a party back from the brink after the Corbyn years. It should be doable for us. There are a lot of pretty slim Labour majorities.”
