Rishi Sunak has dismissed his own minister’s prediction that Labour are “highly likely” to get “the largest majority that this country has ever seen”.
Work and pensions secretary, Mel Stride, has been particularly loyal to the beleaguered PM throughout his disastrous campaign – making his remarks to the media this morning even more of a blow to Sunak.
Stride told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme that “unless the polls are very wrong”, he believes Labour are on a path to landslide.
He said: “I totally accept that where the polls are at the moment means that tomorrow is likely to see the largest Labour landslide majority, the largest majority that this country has ever seen, much bigger than 1997, bigger even than the national government in 1931.
“What therefore matters now is what kind of opposition do we have, what kind of ability to scrutinise government is there within parliament.”
Stride was speaking shortly after a Survation poll of 30,000 people predicted Keir Starmer would take a majority of 484 seats in the election – larger even than the landslide Tony Blair secured in 1997.
Asked if is admitting the Tories have lost, he said: “I have accepted where the polls are at the moment – and it seems highly unlikely they are very very wrong as they are consistently in the same place and have been for some time.”
However, Sunak told ITV’s This Morning that Stride was not “quite saying” the Tories were not going to win.
Sticking to the Tory tactic of trying to scare voters into backing them, the PM said: “What Mel was doing was warning of what a very large Labour majority, unchecked, would mean for people.”
Sunak said that he is still “fighting hard for every vote”, and claimed to have seen analysis showing “just 130,000 people can make the difference in this election”.
He said: “So, everyone watching who thinks, ‘oh, this is all a foregone conclusion’, it’s not.”
However, The Guardian has reported that the PM is significantly less confident with members of his inner circle.
He is allegedly worrying that he could become the first sitting leader of the country to lose his Yorkshire seat in Richmond and Northallerton.
Sunak won comfortably with a majority of more than 27,000 and 63% of the vote.
And losing a seat while serving in cabinet – never mind in Downing Street – is very rare.
Only 12 serving cabinet ministers have lost their seats since 1974, according to the Institute for Government.
But, Sunak could be in good company if he is ousted this week, as a long list of Tory big beasts could be facing the chop, including ex-PM Liz Truss and defence secretary Grant Shapps.
The PM has previously said he would stay on and serve in parliament for a full five years even if he led his party into defeat this week.