Delaying tactics MPs keen to 'sit tight' till autumn in hope of economic upturn

On the fringes of cabinet last Tuesday ministers chatted in hushed tones about Tory megadonor Frank Hester's "clearly racist" remarks about Diane Abbott, revealed by the Guardian the previous night, but concluded that "we've got to get the money in".

- Pippa Crerar

 It took No 10 until the end of the day to condemn his words as "racist and wrong"; Rishi Sunak didn't comment until the prime minister's questions the next day.

Downing Street's handling of the row had uncomfortable echoes of the dying days of Boris Johnson's premiership for some Tory MPs, with the instinctive reaction to double down and tough it out.

It was not the only difficult moment for Sunak in what was one of the most troubled weeks since he become prime minister, and which followed a budget that failed to deliver any shift in the polls.

The former Tory deputy chair Lee Anderson defected to Reform, angering the right of the party, who felt he should not have been stripped of the whip, and the rest, who believed it was a mistake for Sunak to have given him the role.

The despondency that has existed for months in Tory ranks turned to despair, and the anxiety among MPs about their electoral prospects with Sunak at the helm has led to another bout of leadership speculation.

"This is the weakest Rishi's been, and the most danger he's been in," said one former minister. "No 10's judgement has now been thrown into question."