In her Electoral Dysfunction podcast, political journalist Beth Rigby disclosed that Dame Andrea Leadsom, the health minister, posed the question before the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs on Wednesday.
Shortly after Rishi Sunak said that a general election would take place on July 4, Beth Rigby revealed that there were extensive conversations on Conservative WhatsApp groups around the possibility of averting a general election.
She informed the podcast that some MPs had texted her to express their “absolute madness” at the scheduling of the vote, calling them “really unhappy”.
It was evident from one minister’s statement that the election was called “from a position of weakness” because the petitions for a vote of no confidence in the prime minister were already being submitted again.
