Westminster loves a secret biography drop, but Anthony Seldon’s new book hits differently. It exposes a Conservative cabinet tearing itself apart from the inside while pretending to smile for the cameras. According to Sunak at 10: The Last Conservative PM?, current Tory leader Kemi Badenoch spent months plotting to remove Rishi Sunak long before the brutal 2024 general election.
Let's look at what actually went down behind closed doors. Westminster insiders knew things were toxic, but Seldon’s accounts paint a picture of active sabotage during a historic party collapse.
Changing the Captain While the Ship Was Sinking
Back in late 2023, Downing Street was drowning in internal warfare over migration policy. Robert Jenrick had just resigned as immigration minister over the Rwanda deportation details. Chaos reigned.
Right at that exact moment, Badenoch—then serving as business secretary—reportedly started working the phones. She wanted to sound out fellow cabinet ministers. Her key question was simple, blunt, and entirely treasonous to the prime minister: Was anyone interested in changing the captain?
An ally of Badenoch has since written off the claims as total fiction. But the book features quotes from multiple insiders painting her as a disruptive force within the team. One source claimed she was actively drawing up imaginary cabinet lineups and handing out imaginary jobs to conspirators.
Why the Palace Coup Ultimately Failed
So why didn't she pull the trigger? If the ambition was there, why did Sunak survive until the summer election?
Fear played a massive part. Former MP Danny Kruger noted that while Badenoch wanted Sunak gone, she feared becoming a short-term, lame-duck prime minister right before a landslide defeat. Stepping into the top job just to absorb the electoral annihilation of July 2024 made zero political sense.
Risk assessment also pointed toward Penny Mordaunt. Badenoch worried she might lose a hasty leadership contest to Mordaunt if an open civil war broke out. Blame avoidance stopped the knife from descending. No one wanted to carry the stain of being the executioner who officially destroyed the last vestiges of Tory rule.
The Cost of Constant Infighting
Sunak wasn't blind to the backstabbing. He knew ministers were circling, but he chose to ignore the noise. He reportedly told his inner circle that rebels just wanted a fight so they could posture, but he had an entire country to run.
Still, the constant leaking and plotting took a severe toll. Voters hate a divided party. The internal hostility leaked into the public sphere, shrinking the Conservative voter base day by day.
By the time the electorate went to the polls in 2024, the damage was irreversible. Seldon’s revelations prove that the Conservative Party didn't just lose an election because of external pressures—they actively imploded from the top down.
Check your local political listings or pick up the full biography if you want every granular detail of how a government eats its own. Keep an eye on how current leadership handles these ghost stories as old wounds reopen.
