Summary

  • Rishi Sunak has faced a grilling at Prime Minister's Questions after senior Tory Simon Clarke called for the PM to be replaced

  • Starmer quipped that the more Tory MPs "slag off" Sunak behind his back, the "more they cheer in here"

  • The PM said the Labour leader doesn't get British values, saying he previously "wanted to abolish the monarchy"

  • The Labour leader said Sunak "doesn't understand Britain" with "his own MPs seeing him as an obstacle to recovery"

  • The pair attacked each other personally, in a possible foretaste of the battle we'll see this election year

  • Clarke, a former cabinet minister, said the party faced being "massacred" at the next election under Sunak

  • But Senior Tories have rallied around the PM and warned against another round of infighting after Clarke's intervention

Live Reporting

Edited by Nathan Williams and Emily McGarvey

  1. Former cabinet minister says Sunak must be replaced

    Former cabinet minister Sir Simon Clarke walking with a red binder in his handPA Media

    Sir Simon Clarke said the Tories needed to elect its fourth leader in two years, or face defeat at the next general election

    Tory MP Sir Simon Clarke has become the second former minister to publicly call for Rishi Sunak to quit.

    In an article in the Telegraph, Clarke says that his party face being "massacred" at the next election unless they ditch the PM.

    The senior MP, who rebelled on the government's key Rwanda bill, said the party has lost "key voters" by failing to be bold on immigration and government reform.

    Downing Street has yet to comment but other MPs objected to Sir Simon’s comments.

    Minister Kevin Hollinrake said Sir Simon's position was "not the overwhelming view of the party" and Dame Priti Patel accused her colleague of engaging in “divisive self indulgence”.

  2. Good morning

    Nathan Williams
    Live reporter

    In a couple of hours' time Rishi Sunak will face questions from the opposition and the Tory party backbenchers in the Commons, after a former cabinet minister, Sir Simon Clarke, became the second Tory MP to publicly call for Rishi Sunak to go.

    Dame Andrea Jenkyns was the first, late last year.

    Clarke has been publicly critical for some time. He was one of the 11 rebels in the crunch Rwanda vote last week.

    We are here in our London newsroom and in Westminster and we'll bring you all the developments as the day unfolds.

    Stay with us for all the latest.