Commons chief Penny Mordaunt accused of ‘boycotting’ Cabinet assembly

Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt has been accused of ‘boycotting’ the Cabinet meeting which authorised Rishi Sunak‘s shock decision to call an election.

Supporters of Ms Mordaunt, who has been tipped as a future Tory party leader, described the timing as ‘disastrous’.

The Cabinet were summoned on Wednesday, with David Cameron flying back from Albania to be there. Ms Mordaunt was a mile away, chairing a Privy Council meeting in Buckingham Palace.

A Cabinet minister told The Mail on Sunday that Ms Mordaunt’s absence was ‘notable’.

Penny Mordaunt has been tipped as a future Tory party leader. Her supporters called the timing of the election ‘disastrous’

No10 sources dispute that Mr Sunak’s political strategist, Isaac Levido, opposed the decision to call a snap poll

A government source added: ‘It’s very curious. We were told unless you’ve got a bloody good reason then you are supposed to be there. If the Foreign Secretary and Defence Secretary get called back, she should have been too.’

The decision to aim for a June or July election was made a month ago, when the Prime Minister held a dinner for his closest advisers at Downing Street. Everyone was sworn to the highest level of secrecy and, amazingly for Westminster, the news held.

No10 sources dispute that Mr Sunak’s political strategist, Isaac Levido, opposed the decision to call a snap poll, although other sources concede that he ‘set out at length the case for waiting until the autumn to give the economy time to pick up properly’.

The counter-argument, led by Mr Sunak’s Winchester College school friend, James Forsyth, and Chief of Staff Liam Booth-Smith, rested on a confluence of factors.

Home Office sources say that the Government Legal Department had admitted to campaigners that they would be able to successfully block migrant flights to Rwanda. This came against the backdrop of ever-rising numbers of small boats crossing the Channel, with 10,000 migrants having arrived so far this year.

The same sources say that pressure on prisons was also a factor – inmates will soon have to be let out early to ease overcrowding.

There were also fears that interest rates would not fall as quickly as hoped, and there might not be enough of a Treasury surplus to deliver an autumn tax cut.

In addition, the advisers did not want to give Nigel Farage time to build up a head of steam, with Mr Sunak’s allies defending the snap election decision as a tactical win against Reform.

Last weekend, the members of the inner-inner circle who had backed a July poll celebrated with drinks at the House of Koko, a private members’ club in north London.

The Cabinet were summoned on Wednesday, with David Cameron flying back from Albania to be there

Disquiet about the election decision has spilled over on chat groups used by the Tory grassroots. On the Conservatives Party Members Group, a private site for 3,000 verified members including MPs, it was described as ‘seriously ill judged… when we lose, there should be no knighthood for Rishi’.

Expressing anger at Mr Sunak’s failure to fulfil his promise of making the Rwanda plan work before polling day, one member said: ‘Well Sunak, you have got out of that promise. Where will you be after the election? One thing for sure you will not be the PM.’

At the Cabinet meeting, Welsh Secretary David TC Davies praised Mr Sunak’s decision to go early: ‘You never win a fight by cowering in the corner. You win by being on the front foot.’

A source close to Ms Mordaunt said her team checked with No10 that she could miss Cabinet to chair the Privy Council.