Rishi Sunak goes into the week hoping it will be better than the one that came before. Last week, the Prime Minister suffered one of his worst weeks since entering 10 Downing Street with Lee Anderson defecting to Reform, a racism row over a donor, and MPs on the right discussing whether they ought to oust Sunak and crown his former leadership rival Penny Mordaunt as his successor. It means that – once again – journalists are close to using the word ‘febrile’ when it comes to the mood in the Tory party.

The weekend has been largely made up of briefings and counter briefings about the Prime Minister. Penny Mordaunt’s supporters are keen to talk down the idea that she is actively courting plotting MPs. Sunak’s allies are accusing those MPs on the right of not actually wanting Mordaunt to take over but instead tricking centrist MPs into backing an attempt to remove Sunak only for a candidate on the right to win. Then there are the MPs – such as Iain Duncan Smith and Jacob Rees-Mogg – suggesting this is all a bit mad and everyone needs to calm down and unite behind the Prime Minister. This is also the line from Kemi Badenoch this morning on the ministerial media round.

As for Sunak’s own attempt to rally the troops, one of the things that has rattled his party recently is a sense of a lack of grip and direction from 10 Downing Street (others say the problem is control freakery). This week, Sunak will try to restore confidence with his MPs and offer some optimism despite his party’s dismal polling. Last night No. 10 released some words ahead of an economy-focused week with Sunak announcing that ‘this year, 2024, will be the year Britain bounces back’ with ‘all the economic indicators pointing in the right direction’. Top of that list is inflation – new figures are due on Wednesday which are expected to see a further fall.

Later this week Sunak will come face to face with his party at a meeting of the 22 committee – which ought to give a flavour of where Sunk’s critics sit. The hope among Sunak’s inner circle is that they can use these events to calm nerves. Then there’s the return of the Rwanda Bill to the House of Commons today to strip out the multiple amendments from the Lords. If Sunak is lucky it could get royal assent this week. But if it is dragged back by the Lords then that will likely have to wait until after the Easter recess. It means it is another key issue which could decide the mood of the parliamentary party ahead of difficult local elections in May.

Listen to Katy Balls and Fraser Nelson discuss the Plot to oust Rishi Sunak on Coffee House Shots