Political Maneuvering in Confidence Votes

Host Jack Blanchard goes for a long lunch with Sir Graham Brady, the former chairman of the 1922 committee of backbench Conservative MPs — and the man who helped bring down multiple Tory prime ministers.

Over a meal of rare roast beef and Argentine malbec, Sir Graham picks through his 14 years at the helm of the 1922 committee, and his run-ins with the five different prime ministers who occupied Downing Street through his period in office.

Sir Graham recalls the topics which really made David Cameron angry; Theresa May's rage at being betrayed by her own MPs; Boris Johnson's time-wasting tricks and Liz Truss' final words to him before she stepped out of No. 10 Downing Street to resign. And he reflects on an archaic Westminster system by which Tory prime ministers' power ultimately relies upon the size of a pile of secret letters locked in a safe in the parliamentary office of one backbench MP.

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