After breaking cover to reveal he is leading the move to oust Theresa May, Grant Shapps is now getting a thorough pasting from many of his Tory colleagues - even on Twitter.
The party, which is trying to figure out how best it should be reaching younger voters, has suffered ridicule for its meagre Instagram attempts, but it seems its members are upping the sass on Twitter following Shapps’ revelation.
Wells and Somerset MP James Heappey probably wins first prize with this top GIF contribution:
Then there was this little serving of sauce from Michael Fabricant:
Followed with another:
Ribble Valley’s Nigel Evans went with a selfie:
Braintree MP James Cleverly kept it simple:
While Mid Bedfordshire’s Nadine Dorries really went for it:
And MP for Thurrock, Jackie Doyle-Price denied Shapps spoke for her and her colleagues:
To add insult to injury, according to the Spectator’s Steerpike, Shapps was actually left out of the infamous Tory WhatsApp group.
But while Twitter appear to be working well for the Tories, Instagram hasn’t been quite such a success.
The party has been mocked for its “behind the scenes” photos of their conference, which aren’t exactly 🔥🔥🔥...
Shapps, who has told HuffPost UK that he has made no secret of his intentions to Downing Street, confirmed his role in the plot after the Times newspaper reported he was the man organising the rebellion.
A raft of Cabinet ministers and senior backbenchers have come out to defend May after her Tory conference speech was something of a disaster.
But despite this, one MP texted the Government Chief Whip on Thursday evening to say May “needs to go and go now”, HuffPost UK revealed.
Some 48 MPs are needed to formally trigger a confidence vote in the party leader, but Shapps hopes that she will resign after an informal approach from MPs who worry she is damaging the party’s chances of re-election.