Rishi Sunak made an impromptu appearance at the 1922 committee tonight as he sought to sell his ‘Plan B’ on Rwanda to restive Tory MPs. This evening the government published the Bill – which asserts that ministers have the power to ignore judgments from Strasbourg but stops short at ‘disapplying’ the ECHR. This means it doesn’t go as far as what former home secretary Suella Braverman called for. Speaking to MPs, Sunak said it was the furthest the government could go, as had they gone ‘one inch further’ and ousted the courts entirely, the Rwandan government would not have backed it and there would be no Rwanda scheme to action.

The Prime Minister argued to MPs that the Bill – which disapplies sections of the Human Rights Act – offers the Tories a chance to unite and take the fight to Labour. According to one attendee, Sunak repeatedly used the phrase ‘unite or die’ – a phrase he used when he first became prime minister. He said now is the time to unite, since if the party can push this bill through parliament and get flights going, Labour won’t have an adequate response. Sunak was heavily critical of Keir Starmer in his address – once again bringing up Starmer’s previous support for Corbyn.

Sunak repeatedly used the phrase ‘unite or die’

As for the reception, Sunak had a full audience – around 150 MPs turned up from various parts of the party. There was a lot of table banging and one attendee says the ratio of supportive to hostile questions was 60:40. Many of the so-called supportive questions were statements on the importance of unity. However, there were also some indicators that the right of the party could get on board. Braverman was notably not in attendance but ERG-er Bill Cash suggested his initial impression of the plan was that it is ‘bold and robust’.

However, others were more sceptical – Mark Francois asked if Robert Jenrick has resigned yet. The Home Office minister has of late become a torch bearer for the Tory right. Sunak swerved the question, but there is yet to be an indicator that he has decided to go. The other question Sunak seemed less keen on was whether individual asylum seekers could still take the government to court. MPs in the room say Sunak swerved this. In the coming hours and days once MPs have time to go over the plans, it will become clearer whether Sunak can unite his party – or whether that is just not possible. It’s not just the ERG star chamber examining the bill, the One Nation Tories also have their own team of lawyers looking over it. Satisfying both wings will be a very uphill task.