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The Conservative Party is “running out of money”, according to i reports, with half of Tory HQ staffers likely to be made redundant in a desperate bid to steady the ship.
Party insiders have informed the newspaper that the coffers are running dry after an unsuccessful election campaign, with further pressures being added due to a long leadership contest.
Dame Priti Patel was eliminated from the race to replace Rishi Sunak this week leaving Robert Jenrick, Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Tom Tugendhat and Mel Stride in the contest.
The two final candidates will be put to the party’s grassroots to choose between, but the result of the ballot won’t be announced until November 2nd.
Reports suggest that the drawn-out process is adding to the financial woes of the Conservative Party, which has taken Rishi Sunak and Tory chairman Richard Holden by surprise.
“We were absolutely cash-strapped in the election, and that explains the party political broadcast,” one insider told the i, exasperated – referring to an extremely cheap-looking televised campaign ad (see box below) put out by the party.
“The party is basically broke and the next leader is going to have to fix it,” said another senior insider.
“It’s really going to matter who the next chairman is and whether they have any capability to fundraise … Conservative HQ needs a proper fundraiser as chairman because rebuilding is going to be expensive.
“I think they’ve let go of all of the campaign managers, which is a big mistake given the importance of the local elections next year.”
While it waits for a new leader who it hopes will bring in new funding, the party is having to drastically cut costs.
Including people on temporary and fixed-term contracts over the election period, the party’s staff is expected to be slashed from more than 350 to little over 150, according to one party insider.
Another said he expected the “core” HQ staff to be reduced from more than 200 to less than 100.
Responding to the news on social media, one person humorously suggested that they might cancel their Netflix or cut down on the avocado toast in reference to the advice dished out to Millenials.
Très drôle.
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