Conservative Party chairman Richard Holden has said he would give his party an ‘eight out of ten’ when asked how united the Tories are.
Speaking on Times Radio, the Tory chief said his party’s “biggest weakness” was looking at itself rather than the country, but still rated the party highly for unity.
Mr Holden said: “The biggest weakness is always that a party that can look to itself. Rather than the country.
“I think being inward-looking is the weakness.”
After giving his party the high eight out of ten score, Mr Holden added: “It’s definitely on the improving scale”
“We’ve now kicked the tires inside the building. We’re in a better place than I think some might have thought we would be.”
The pronouncement of unity may come as a surprise to most Conservative MPs, who despite getting through a whole year without installing a new Prime Minister, have spent the last 12 months rowing about multiple different topics.
From tax to migration, Rwanda to Net Zero, Rishi Sunak has faced constant threats of rebellion by his Tory colleagues, though managed to face most of them down.
Despite seeing off a major rebellion earlier this month around his new Rwanda plan, Tory rebels have threatened a major showdown early next year as the Government refuses to completely disapply ECHR authority over the scheme.
He conceded there’s a “huge amount coming up”, with 2024 set to be a bumper election year.
As well as the General Election, next year voters face going to the polls for mayoral elections, police and crime commissioner elections and council elections.
Mr Holden said he now has an “excellent new team” at Tory high command ready to take the fight to Labour.
“We’ve really ramped up our campaigning efforts right across the country, we’ve got more staff on the ground than we’ve had for a very long time, and I think we know we’re in quite a good place, actually, internally.
“But obviously, I want to make sure that the party stays as united as practically possible as we head through this election year.”
Mr Holden still has a headache to deal with, however – the search for a constituency.
The Tory Party boss’s Durham seat has been abolished by the Electoral Commission ahead of new boundaries coming in at the next election.
Mr Sunak’s decision to appoint a man as his party chairman who has no constituency raised eyebrows on the day of the reshuffle.
Mr Holden said he will “be very honoured to find somebody who will take me”.
