Challenger aims to bring down ‘alternative government’ of Sir Graham Brady’s 1922 committee

A former government whip who is running to be the new chairman of the 1922 committee has insisted she will not use her role "to promote my view" in a swipe at Sir Graham Brady.

Sir Graham, 54, is facing a battle to stay on his role as the unofficial Tory MPs' shop steward – a position he has held for 11 years – from Heather Wheeler, 62, a former whip who entered the Commons in 2010.

Ballot papers in the election are being sent out on June 30, and must be returned by July 7. The ballot is open to every backbench Tory MP, including unpaid parliamentary private secretaries, but excluding paid government ministers – 270 Conservatives in total.

Tory MPs canvassed by The Telegraph found that Ms Wheeler was picking up support among women Conservative MPs and those elected in Boris Johnson's election landslide in 2019.

Ms Wheeler, a minister in the whips' office, Ministry for Housing and the Foreign Office from 2017 to 2020, this week sent out an A3 leaflet to all eligible MPs in the election titled "Heather Wheeler – standing for '22 chair – backing Conservative MPs".

In large type, the leaflet says: "I want to listen to colleagues and have a party that works as a team."

She adds: "I want to listen to colleagues. I don't want just to use my position to promote my view. I want to take colleagues' views forward and resolve issues they care about."

Sir Graham, pictured below, has been repeatedly in the spotlight over his criticism of Government lockdowns during the pandemic.

One ally of Ms Wheeler said: "It is as though Graham has set himself up as an alternative government and Heather does not think that is how the party works, nor how its associations work."

Friends of Sir Graham said that he had had to comment on the Covid-19 lockdowns as they were national and constituency issues, and stressed how he had led the 1922 committee with discretion and integrity over the past decade.

Ms Wheeler presents herself as a new broom in the leaflet, saying: "Sir Graham Brady has shown some distinguished leadership during his time as chair.

"But having held the role for 11 years, he is already the second longest-serving '22 chair after Edward du Cann [who held the post from 1972 to 1984].

"The party has changed, the political landscape has changed, and I believe it is time for the leadership of the 1922 committee to change too.

"I know that many colleagues who have already offered their support share this view."

She added: "It is time for the '22 to be revitalised to reflect the modern Conservative Party, to keep government policies moving in the right direction and to defend the values that everyone connected to the Conservative Party holds dear."

Tory MP friends of Sir Graham, who entered the Commons in 1997, suspect that Ms Wheeler's candidacy is backed by Number 10, which has been frustrated by Sir Graham's criticism over the Covid-19 lockdowns.

One ally pointed out that half of the six Tory MPs backing Ms Wheeler on her leaflet - Jane Hunt, Craig Williams and Jack Brereton - were parliamentary private secretaries, on the first rung of the ministerial ladder.

One Brady ally said: "Heather is a loyalist who hasn’t rebelled on anything in ages, was in the whips' office and was a government minister. She is the whips' office choice for a compliant 1922 committee."

Another MP said he was voting for Sir Graham purely "because he is independent of the centre".

However, a friend of Ms Wheeler strongly denied that she was a candidate backed by ministers and insisted the whips' office had no idea that she was standing until she told colleagues.