Rwanda: The main Conservative Party factions jostling for influence
Rishi Sunak’s bill aimed at sending some asylum seekers to Rwanda is being debated by MPs, ahead of a crunch vote later on Wednesday.
The prime minister has already suffered the biggest rebellion of his time in office as right-wing Tory MPs voted for amendments to toughen the legislation, as they see it, although the government still saw them off.
The Conservatives who want to change the bill are mostly members of different factions within the party – loose groupings of like-minded MPs who get together to exert pressure on the leadership.
They have described their groups as the five families – a tongue-in-cheek reference to the five Italian-American mafia crime families that operate in New York.
But who are these and other Conservative factions? And why do they exert so much influence?
The largest single group within the parliamentary party says more than 100 Conservative MPs are members, almost a third of the total.
The phrase, one-nation Tory, goes back to 19th-century Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, but the caucus was formed only in 2019.
Chaired by former First Secretary of State Damian Green, it says it is committed to the values of the liberal centre-right.
Many of its members represent traditionally Tory blue wall seats where the Liberal Democrats are the main challengers.
Some were known to be unhappy that Mr. Sunak’s new Rwanda bill sets aside some of the UK’s obligations in international law, but they backed the bill while warning the PM not to toughen it further.
Former Solicitor General Lord Garnier, who advised the caucus, had described the bill as political and legal nonsense, equivalent to ruling all dogs are cats.
Other leading lights include Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, Security Minister Tom Tugendhat, and Caroline Nokes, who chairs the women and equalities committee.
Once the most powerful grouping of Tory MPs, the ERG played a key role in blocking Theresa May’s Brexit deal and then bringing her down as prime minister, which paved the way for successor Boris Johnson to strike a harder Brexit.
The ERG – chaired by Mark Francois – said very significant amendments were needed.
It is likely to push strongly for these in the new year.
Most were elected in 2019, many in marginal, traditionally Labour, red wall seats in the north of England and the Midlands.
The New Conservatives have called for radical measures to cut migration and pressed the government to deliver deportations to Rwanda by unpicking many of the UK’s international obligations.
Ms. Cates and Mr. Kruger were among the 29 Tories who refused to back the Rwanda bill in the Commons.
On broader policy, the group says the party needs to return its 2019 manifesto by delivering levelling up and reducing taxes, rein back on green measures, and ban gender ideology in schools.
Launched in 2020 and with around 30 members, the CSG is led by former Home Office minister Sir John Hayes, a close ally of Suella Braverman.
Like Mrs. Braverman, Sir John has been fiercely critical of Mr. Sunak’s Rwanda approach and, alongside the New Conservatives, the group has been pressing for tougher action on both illegal and legal migration.
It has also pushed hard on culture issues, such as Mr. Sunak’s plans to phase out smoking, other manifestations of what it regards as the nanny state, and what it described as the National Trust’s woke agenda on colonialism.
Other leading figures include Lee Anderson, Brendan Clarke-Smith, and Jonathan Gullis.
Sir John and Mrs. Braverman both abstained on the government’s bill.
Thought to number more than 50 MPs, the group was formed in 2019 to press for greater investment in red wall areas in the north of England, Wales, and the Scottish borders.
Senior figures include former party chairman and Northern Powerhouse minister Sir Jake Berry, former Brexit Secretary David Davis, and Esther McVey, who returned to the cabinet last month.
The NRG regards immigration as an important issue for many of its MPs’ voters.
Sir Jake was one of those who withheld his support for the Rwanda bill.
Around 50 MPs are thought to be members of a group set up in the aftermath of Liz Truss’s disastrous, short tenure at No 10.
Its focus is chiefly economic: it advocates the libertarian policies it believes Ms. Truss was prevented from introducing by the unravelling of her mini-budget in September-October 2022.
It says the policies needed to break out of a long period of low growth include slashing business taxes and stamp duty, toughening benefit requirements, relaxing planning, and reintroducing fracking.
Since 2005, it has been chaired by Sir John Redwood, who has campaigned for the UK to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights to ensure the Rwanda plan can go ahead without further legal delays. He abstained on the bill.
The Conservative Democratic Organisation, launched a year ago, was widely thought to be a front for an effort to restore Boris Johnson to Downing Street. It has denied this.
It calls for greater party democracy and condemned Mr. Sunak’s coronation as prime minister without a Tory members’ vote. It has also described his sacking of Ms. Braverman as political suicide.
