On 18 April 1923, a group of Conservative MPs, who had all been newly elected in the general election of the previous year, held a meeting that led to the formation of “the Conservative private members (1922) committee”.

Despite its name, which refers to the 1922 intake of MPs, the committee was formally established in 1923. Its founding purpose was to foster “mutual co-operation and assistance in dealing political and parliamentary questions and in order to enable new [MPs] to take a more active interest and part in parliamentary life.”

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The committee was the brainchild of Gervais Rentoul, its first chairman and the Conservative MP for Lowestoft.

In his autobiography, Rentoul referred to the “complete insignificance of an inexperienced rank-and-file member lost in the maze of parliamentary procedure”. The committee was created to provide a much-needed correction, serving as a quasi-educational body.

But ‘the 1922’ quickly evolved. Following further general elections in 1923 and 1924, new Conservative members were invited to join the committee. In February 1926, the committee was opened to all backbench Conservative MPs.

Over the decades, the 1922 committee has become a powerful and influential body within the Conservative party — providing a sometimes critical conduit between backbenchers and the party leadership. Its chair is a significant figure, and the committee’s weekly meetings provide a sounding board of Conservative opinion, as well as a forum for MPs to co-ordinate and air grievances independently of the leadership. Frontbenchers are regularly invited to address and take questions from the committee.

The group traditionally meets in committee room 14, the largest of its kind in parliament.

Today, the committee is led by an 18-member executive, who are elected by and from the pool of backbench Conservative MPs. Bob Blackman is its current chair. He succeeded Sir Graham Brady, whose tenure (2010-2024) comprised five different party leaders.

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The committee oversees the rules for leadership contests and votes of confidence in the party leader. The proverbial “men in grey suits” – a semi-official delegation from the 1922 committee informing a leader that their time is up – has become a recurring image in British political life, especially between the years 2018-2022. The committee is today best recognised for its role as the Conservative Party’s in-house assassination bureau.

Lord Norton, who is responsible for the definitive study on the committee, has written: “Until 1965, Tory leaders came into office through a process of ‘emergence’ and gave up office when they were old, ill or ground down by political pressures. 

“None, though, left office because of a visitation by ‘the men in grey suits’. It was only after the introduction of rules for election – and later removal – by MPs that the 1922 committee became a major force in determining the fate of party leaders. Indeed, the introduction of rules for election transformed the 1922 committee.”

Norton adds: “In 1975, the rules were changed to enable MPs to vote a leader out of office. Further changes took place in 1998. These provided that MPs would select two candidates to be placed before party members, with eliminating ballots being held to select the two in the event that there were more than two putting their names forward. 

“The executive of the 1922 determined how many signatures an MP needed to be entered in the ballot.”

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In total, the committee has overseen three “votes of confidence” in three Conservative leaders: Iain Duncan Smith (2003), Theresa May (2018) and Boris Johnson (2022). Of these votes, only the first has been successful — with 90 voting against (i.e. “no confidence”) and 75 for (“confidence”). The 2018 and 2022 ballots nonetheless weakened, perhaps fatally, the standing of May and Johnson. Both were sitting prime ministers at the time.

A vote of confidence is triggered once a threshold (a percentage of the Conservative parliamentary party) is met of MPs asking for such a vote. MPs do so in the form of a letter, sent to the 1922 committee chairman. Critically, only the chairman knows how many letters have been received.

At present, the relevant threshold stands at one-third of the Conservative parliamentary party. This was raised from 15% in the early stages of the parliament created after the 2024 general election. Bob Blackman, the new chair of the committee, announced the change following Kemi Badenoch’s election as Tory leader.

Blackman told GB News: “It was 15%, it’s now 33.3 plus one. So from that perspective I’m not expecting to see any problems in that regard ever, actually.”

Blackman also said that the party now had a “great opportunity” to “rebuild trust” with the public and “get the parliamentary party working as one team”.

He added: “My job is to make sure that the parliamentary party is listened to by Kemi, and make sure that everyone is rowing in the same direction.”

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The committee is also responsible for setting the rules of the first stage of a leadership contest in consultation with the Conservative Party board. These bodies must decide how many MP backers (nominations) a candidate needs to formally enter the contest; they must also decide the timetable and how long the voting rounds will last.

The constitution of the Conservative Party states: “The rules for deciding the procedure by which the 1922 committee selects candidates for submission for election shall be determined by the executive committee of the 1922 committee after consultation of the board.”