Alex Burghart was put up like a lamb to the slaughter during the latest Question Time, broadcast from Gillingham in Kent.
The Tory MP joined colleagues in defending Rishi Sunak following dire polling numbers and a raft of resignations which has left the PM battered and bruised at the start of the year.
With a general election around the corner, Burghart said Sunak has been doing an “incredibly good job in very, very difficult circumstances”, prompting this response from the audience.
Host Fiona Bruce, meanwhile, tried to ask the majority Conservative-voting audience whether anyone wanted to speak up for the prime minister and the Conservative government.
It resulted in an almost pin-drop response:
Sunak has told Conservatives fearing they face being electorally “massacred” that he is “making progress”, as he urged them to stick with his plan.
Former Cabinet minister Sir Simon Clarke’s warning that the Tories face oblivion at the next election without a change in the Prime Minister was followed by fresh gloom from an adviser.
Will Dry, a former aide to Mr Sunak who conducted polling for No 10, said the country is “on course for at least a decade of Labour rule” as he joined a rebel plot to oust the PM.
Senior Conservatives have leapt to the defence of Mr Sunak to remain rather than move on to their fourth leader since their 2019 general election victory.
But the public warring has done nothing to soothe Tory nerves as Labour remains 23 points clear in the polls – with the next election set to take place this year.
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