‘Stalinist’ Sunak threatened with legal action for blocking pro-Boris candidates

The Tory party has been threatened with legal action amid claims that “Stalinist” Rishi Sunak is blocking pro-Boris candidates from standing as MPs.

A group of “senior and unfairly treated figures” on the Right of the party are consulting barristers on whether to apply for a legal injunction to pause the candidate selection process.

They say they will seek an injunction “for as long as it takes” to resolve the issues around selection after a series of key figures involved in the “Bring Back Boris” campaign were barred from standing as a Tory MP.

David Campbell-Bannerman, the chairman of the Conservative Democratic Organisation (CDO), which campaigns for a greater voice for Tory members, has written to the Tory party chair.

In the letter, seen by The Telegraph, he claims that he has been barred from standing as a Conservative MP “on the basis I wasn’t nice enough about Rishi Sunak in social media”.

Mr Campbell-Bannerman, who is the president of two local Tory party associations and a former member of the European Parliament, is asking for this decision to be overturned.

He writes: “I regret though that in the interim, I am consulting with barristers on a legal injunction to pause the selection process for as long as it takes to resolve such selection issues, not just on my behalf, but on behalf of a number of other senior and unfairly treated figures.

“The lawyers say it may need a week if so. I have no desire or enthusiasm to do so, but I feel I have been left by the candidates committee with no other option.”

Mr Campbell-Bannerman defected to Ukip in 2004 – running twice, unsuccessfully, to become leader of the party – before returning to the Conservative party in 2011.

‘It is a bit mysterious’

He said he believes he was blocked from selection by Downing Street, explaining: “There is a Number Ten representative on the candidates committee and they look after the interests of Number Ten.

“The members have every right to decide if I’m appropriate as a candidate. But to be stopped on some vague basis is Stalinist. I don’t think it is a fair criteria, it is a bit mysterious.”

He is one of a series of would-be Tory candidates around the country who have been barred from standing by the candidate committee, which is run by the Conservative party’s headquarters (CCHQ).

Another chair of a local Tory party association told The Telegraph that they had also been blocked from running as an MP after being told that he “wasn’t Conservative enough”.

“I ran quite a large Bring Back Boris group – I didn’t make any secret of that at the time,” he said. “There seem to be a number of us in the camp. I was told by the candidates’ team that we are not welcome, effectively.”

Last year, the CDO was set up by allies of Mr Johnson with the mission of overhauling the workings of the party to put power into the hands of the membership.

Led by Lord Cruddas and Mr Campbell-Bannerman, it also counts Dame Priti Patel, the former home secretary, among its high-profile backers.

‘Desperately scrambling’

The number of Tory MPs standing down at the general election has surpassed the Conservative party record set in 1997 when Labour won a landslide under Sir Tony Blair, and polls suggest Mr Sunak could endure a similar defeat.

One former Cabinet minister said that CCHQ is “desperately scrambling” to fill seats, with local campaign directors asked to draw up a list of potential candidates for vacant seats.

Earlier this week, the Prime Minister was forced to deny that Lord Frost had been barred from standing as a candidate.

Mr Sunak denied claims that the former Brexit negotiator, who has been a fierce critic, had been told he could not apply for any of the 93 vacant constituencies.

Lord Frost, who is a popular figure on the Right of the Conservatives, has said he is willing to resign from the House of Lords to fight the election.

He welcomed Mr Sunak’s announcement, which will be seen as the Prime Minister effectively ordering CCHQ to overturn the ban.

The Conservative party declined to comment.