Mark Pritchard launches astonishing broadside against his own leader – and reveals he’s part of rebel group demanding Palestinian state recognition
A Conservative MP sparked chaos in the Commons today with an extraordinary public attack on his own party leader – admitting he could be kicked out for siding with Sir Keir Starmer.
Mark Pritchard, the veteran MP for The Wrekin, delivered the stunning rebuke to Kemi Badenoch after she accused the Prime Minister of “evading” PMQs to attend crucial NATO and G7 summits.
In scenes that left Tory MPs gobsmacked, Pritchard rose to his feet and declared: “Who knows, I may get the whip withdrawn for saying it, but so be it.”
‘There are things that go beyond party politics’
The bombshell intervention came after Badenoch launched a scathing attack on Starmer, claiming “nobody cares” what he thinks and that he’d been dodging their weekly Commons clashes.
But Pritchard, who’s served in Parliament for two decades, wasn’t having any of it. In his blistering response, he praised the Labour PM for putting national security first.
“Whilst we may disagree on the detail, can I agree with the Prime Minister as far as possible in this place,” he said. It would be better to keep partisan politics out of national security issues.
The 58-year-old MP then delivered the killer blow: “There are things that go beyond party politics. So can I thank the Prime Minister for all his hard work in the national security interests of this country?”
Starmer fires back at ‘unserious’ Badenoch
The Prime Minister, clearly enjoying the unexpected support from across the aisle, had earlier torn into Badenoch’s criticism as “unserious” during a time of global instability.
“There’s never been a more important time to work with our allies and to be absolutely serious in our response,” Starmer thundered. To suggest at a time like this that the prime minister attending the G7 summit and the NATO summit is avoiding PMQs is unserious.
He added with barely concealed contempt: “It has made the world safer. For the leader of the opposition to belittle it just shows how irrelevant she and the party opposite have become.”
The rebel with a cause
But Pritchard’s defiance goes deeper than just today’s spat. The Shropshire MP has emerged as part of a rebel group of senior Tories openly defying their party’s stance on Middle East policy.
According to GB News and other sources, Pritchard recently joined forces with other Conservative MPs – including former ministers Kit Malthouse and Simon Hoare – to pen a letter to Starmer demanding Britain recognise a Palestinian state.
The explosive letter, which broke cover in May, saw more than a dozen senior Tory MPs and peers break ranks with official party policy in an unprecedented show of dissent against Badenoch’s leadership.
‘I got it wrong on Israel’
The depth of Pritchard’s conversion became clear in another Commons intervention last month, when he made an emotional confession about his past support for Israel.
For many years – I’ve been in this House twenty years – I have supported Israel pretty much at all costs, quite frankly,” he admitted. But today I say that I got it wrong.”
The MP, known for his animal welfare campaigns and once telling former Speaker John Bercow he wasn’t “f***ing royalty”, cited the deaths of 13,000 Palestinian children as the reason for his dramatic change of heart.
A party at war with itself
Pritchard’s rebellion couldn’t come at a worse time for Badenoch, who’s struggling to unite a Conservative Party still reeling from its worst election defeat in history.
With just 121 MPs left, she can ill afford to lose even one – let alone a veteran like Pritchard who’s been in Parliament since 2005 and previously served as deputy chairman of the party’s International Office.
The Palestinian state letter, organised by Kit Malthouse and signed by heavyweights including Father of the House Sir Edward Leigh, represents a serious challenge to her authority just months into the job.
‘Recognition should not be a distant bargaining chip’
The rebel Tories’ letter pulled no punches, declaring: “For decades, the Palestinian people have endured occupation, displacement and systemic restrictions on their basic freedoms.”
They urged immediate recognition, arguing it would “affirm our nation’s commitment to upholding the principles of justice, self-determination and equal rights.
The timing is particularly sensitive, with France and Saudi Arabia set to host a major conference on Palestinian statehood next month – an event French President Macron has hinted could see France formally recognise Palestine.
The whip threat looms
Pritchard’s public warning that he might “get the whip withdrawn” wasn’t idle speculation. Party sources suggest Badenoch is furious at the growing rebellion and considering disciplinary action.
But kicking out Pritchard would be risky. The MP has a colourful history of standing up to authority – from his infamous corridor confrontation with Bercow to his resignation from Cameron’s frontbench team over “lack of national aspiration.”
He’s also got form for embarrassing party leaders. During the 2022 circus debate, he claimed Boris Johnson tried to buy him off with a job offer before threatening him when he refused to withdraw a motion.
A leader under siege
For Badenoch, who became the first black leader of a major UK party just months ago, the rebellion represents a nightmare scenario.
She’s trying to position the Tories as strong on national security and supportive of Israel – key issues for many Conservative voters. But now senior MPs are openly praising Starmer and demanding Palestinian recognition.
One Tory insider told us: “Kemi’s got enough problems fighting Reform without her own MPs stabbing her in the back. This is exactly what we don’t need.”
What happens next?
All eyes are now on whether Badenoch follows through on the implied threat to remove the whip from Pritchard and potentially other rebels.
With the party already haemorrhaging support to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, a messy internal war over foreign policy is the last thing she needs.
But letting the rebellion go unpunished risks emboldening other MPs to break ranks on different issues – potentially turning her leadership into a lame duck before it’s even properly begun.
As one Westminster watcher put it: “When your own MPs are publicly praising the Labour Prime Minister and saying they don’t care if they lose the whip, you’ve got serious problems.
For Pritchard, who grew up in a Hereford orphanage before rising to become an MP, it seems standing up for his principles matters more than party loyalty.
Whether that costs him his Conservative whip remains to be seen. But one thing’s certain – this Tory civil war is far from over.
Image credit: Photo © House of Commons (via Commons photographer Jessica Taylor), taken on 6 November 2024during Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons featuring Kemi Badenoch MP. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)
Image page: View on Wikimedia Commons – “Prime Minister’s Questions, 6 November 2024”
