Tory fury as election of new 1922 Committee chairman mired in chaos

Conservative MPs were left furious on Tuesday night after the election of the new chairman of the 1922 Committee descended into chaos.

Senior Tories including Jeremy Hunt, the shadow chancellor, and Mark Francois, the former Armed Forces minister, missed the vote after being told the wrong time to cast their ballot.

Both men had been told the ballot would close at 6pm, but were informed voting had closed when they arrived at Parliament’s committee corridor just after 5.30pm.

The final result saw Bob Blackman, the MP for Harrow East, beat fellow Tory veteran Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown by 61 votes to 37.

He will now lead the powerful committee of Conservative backbenchers, which will play a crucial role in organising the process to choose Rishi Sunak’s successor as party leader.

An email sent out by Mr Blackman’s office and seen by The Telegraph told MPs hustings would take place from 4pm “followed by voting from 5pm [to] 6pm”.

Sir Edward Leigh, the new Father of the House, received a text message from the Whips’ Office that gave the same time frame.

But a separate email seen by The Telegraph and sent by the presiding officer gave the correct timings, stating that MPs could only vote until 5.30pm.

Mr Francois stormed out of committee room 14 as soon as he learnt he was too late to cast his ballot.

“This election was bent – I think the 1922 Committee’s level of competence has reached a new low,” he said.

In a row that foreshadowed what is likely to be a bitter Tory leadership election, Sir Edward also expressed annoyance as he showed journalists the text he received.

Meanwhile, Mr Hunt opened the door to room 14 just after 5.30pm, only to reappear seconds later and exclaim “Oh, I missed the vote” to laughter from colleagues.

Mr Blackman, who has represented his north London constituency since 2010, was one of the few Tories to increase their majority on Thursday and is an ardent Brexiteer.

He previously served on the 1922 Committee as a member of its executive and succeeds Sir Graham Brady, who stood down at last week’s general election.

Mr Blackman said in his acceptance speech: “I am delighted that we can start rebuilding our parliamentary party so we can go fighting into the next general election as a party of government.”

Committee sets rules of leadership race

The committee, nicknamed the “men in grey suits”, will be responsible for deciding the rules and time frame of the upcoming Tory leadership race to replace Mr Sunak.

It is also responsible for collecting letters of no confidence from MPs who wish to see a change of leader.

Under the current rules, 15 per cent of the parliamentary party needs to submit a letter to trigger a leadership contest – equivalent to only 18 out of the 121 remaining Tory MPs.

A source in the Whips’ Office noted the timings were the same in both Mr Blackman’s email and the message communicated by the whips during voting.