A fresh Tory civil war has erupted after Grant Shapps hit back at Boris Johnson in his latest feud with Rishi Sunak.
In a brutal slapdown, the energy secretary said “the world has moved on” from the former prime minister, who quit as an MP on Friday night.
Johnson has accused Sunak of removing his close allies Nadine Dorries and Nigel Adams nominees from his resignation honours list.
That has been strenuously denied by Downing Street, who say the PM followed convention by signing off the list that had been approved by the House of Lords Appointments Commission (Holac).
Both Dorries and Adams have announced that they are quitting parliament immediately, meaning Sunak faces three crunch by-elections in the weeks ahead.
Appearing on Sophy Ridge on Sunday on Sky News this morning, Shapps rejected Johnson’s claims that he had been forced out of parliament by his political enemies.
He said: “The world has moved on - he is the one who has removed himself from the current political scene, standing down as a member of parliament. And we’ve got excellent leadership in place in No.10 with Rishi Sunak.”
Shapps added: “Only Boris Johnson himself made the decision, as he has done, to stand down from parliament. No one has asked him to do that.”
“These things are Boris Johnson’s decision to do. I think actually if you look at the priorities of this country, getting on with the job after Covid and the war in Ukraine and very high inflation, those are the things that people really are concerned about.”
Shapps also hit back at Johnson’s claim that Sunak was not leading a truly Conservative government.
He told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuennsberg show: “What Boris says is his perspective on things. You’re asking me if I think that’s true. No, I think we’re following a fundamentally Conservative approach.”
The cabinet minister had earlier rejected Johnson’s claim that he was the victim of a “witch hunt” by those who want to overturn the result of the Brexit referendum.
He said: “I definitely don’t feel that way. I happened to vote for Brexit as it happens, but I actually do think it’s working in favour for this country.”