In a swipe at Rishi Sunak, Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg suggested that ditching Boris Johnson as Prime Minister is the reason for what is expected to be a ‘terrible night’ for the Tories

Election 2024: Jacob Rees-Mogg blames Tory losses on Boris Johnson exit

Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg has suggested that ditching Boris Johnson as PM is the reason for what is expected to be a “terrible night” for the Tories.

In a swipe at Rishi Sunak, the former Cabinet minister said “there were issues with changing the leader” as he gushed about the disgraced ex-PM being “a very big and powerful figure”. Sir Jacob suggested Mr Sunak made the “mistake in not seeking his own mandate” from the country and should have called an election sooner.

The 10pm exit poll showed the Tories are on track for a devastating night, with the party set to be reduced to just 131 MPs, their lowest number since the party was founded in 1832. Labour are predicted to secure a huge majority of 170, with 410 seats, according to the poll. According to the exit poll, Sir Jacob’s constituency of North East Somerset and Hanham is too close to call. Labour are slightly more likely to win it, with the party on 53% compared to Sir Jacob’s 47%.

Asked about the predictions, Sir Jacob said: “It’s clearly a terrible night for the Conservatives. We’re down supposedly to about 131 seats from having a majority of 80. There is no way to describe this as anything other than a bad night for the Conservative party.”

He continued: “Where did it go wrong? I think that there were issues with changing the leader that I think we do have an increasingly presidential system and that people vote for a Prime Minister rather than for an individual member of parliament. I know the strict constitutional position but voters expect the Prime Minister they have chosen to remain the Prime Minister, and for it to be the voters who decide when that person is changed rather than it being done by a small cabal.

“And I’m afraid I think the Conservative Party took its core vote for granted, which is why you see so many people who may have voted Conservative previously going off to Reform.”

Pressed on whether he thinks Mr Johnson can make a comeback, he insisted people would need to “interview Boris” as he was not his spokesman. “You’ll need to interview Boris and ask him what is his plans are. I can’t act as a spokesman for him. He’s a very big and powerful figure and as we see from Nigel Farage’s success, as far as one can tell from the exit polls, big figures in politics make a difference, big charismatic figures.”

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