It’s back to the good old days of Tory wars. Rishi Sunak hasn’t even got to the microphone to unveil his plans to delay a number of net zero commitments and already a conservative rebellion has begun. Boris Johnson is the most senior voice to raise concern with Sunak’s plan. The former prime minister has released a statement in which he says ‘we cannot afford to falter now or in any way lose our ambition for this country’. While Johnson refrains from personally criticising Sunak, the implication is clear when he says that businesses must have confidence in the government’s net zero policy.

As for unlikely figures in the Sunak camp, Johnson ally Jacob Rees-Mogg has hit out at his old boss – telling the BBC that he’s ‘never been as much of a net zero zealot’ and Sunak’s approach is ‘absolutely’ the right one. There are plenty more who take the opposite view. Tory peer Zac Goldsmith – who recently suggested he could vote Labour – has floated the idea of a snap election on the grounds that Sunak has no mandate for this policy shift. Meanwhile, many Tory MPs are raising concerns privately over the new direction of travel. Lord Deben, the former chair of the Committee on Climate Change which advises the government, has called the expected relaxing of pledges ‘stupid’. Other critics include frustrated businesses and the Labour party – though notably Starmer has so far simply attacked it on the basis that Liz Truss suggested the same a few days ago.

Does this mean Sunak’s policy is already unravelling? The fact that the change was leaked and the speech has now been moved forward shows that it isn’t going to plan. Sunak has been caught on the hop. But the backlash so far won’t come as much of a surprise to 10 Downing Street. The Tory splits on the green agenda have been evident all summer. The hope in government will be that mainstream Tory opinion doesn’t turn against it – ultimately the policy was always going to be blasted by the likes of Goldsmith. As one government figure puts it: ‘The Westminster village will go mad. The rest of the country will be relieved’. This is the test of whether Sunak’s plan has misfired. It will take time before we have the answer.