Downing Street needs to spotlight his more popular colleague rather than appease Rishi Sunak, a private memo from top minister Johnny Mercer has said.
The Veterans Affairs Minister has accused Number 10 of acting as if Mr Sunak remains as popular as he was when he took office, despite declining approval ratings.
The Minister wrote this memo on his laptop on the afternoon of 6 May, the Monday after the local elections, on a train from Exeter St Davids to London Paddington.
A passenger in the vehicle took a photo of the screen and provided it to the newspaper.
In his memo, Mr Mercer focused on the Downing Street firm’s efforts to “appease, manage and promote him (Mr Sunak) on social media”, and said that other, more popular He accused his colleagues of not giving him more visibility.
He said Mr Badenoch and Mr Mordaunt were consistently significantly more popular in polls among Conservative members.
Both men are seen as potential successors to Sunak if he loses in the general election.
Mr Mercer described Number 10’s political communication as “haphazard, topical and loose”.
He also pointed out that “average performers” such as Transport Secretary Mark Harper would be sent to “key positions” in the government.
The congressman wrote that he had been trying “for months without success” to persuade Number 10 to allow veterans to use their ID cards at polling places.
He said he found the plan had been blocked by the prime minister’s special assistant because it could “open the floodgates” to allow students to use the cards too.
Member of Parliament for Plymouth Moor View wrote: He has average performance in important slots. How many people did Harper get this weekend?
“The No. 10 team is acting as if the prime minister is as popular in the polls as he was two years ago. It seems like it’s all about placating, managing, and promoting him on social media. We just have to get through this as a team.
There are good, talented senior colleagues at the ministerial table who are clearly well-liked, and they need to get more airtime and be more visible. ConHome [Conservative Home] Cabinet inquiries should not be ignored (Regardless of the personal views of Mordaunt/Badenoch – No.10 staff). ”