A new group of Conservative backbench MPs, the 301 group, is attracting a bit of attention at the moment. The group, named after the number of MPs the Conservatives will need to have a Commons majority after 2015, has been termed by James Forsyth of the Spectator “the nearest that David Cameron has to a loyalist backbench support group”.

The group is born out of a frustration among the 2010 intake with the 1922 committee, the traditional forum for Conservative backbenchers, The Times reported yesterday. The Cameron is taking them seriously, though – yesterday he met with representatives of the group at No 10.

As well as their frustration with the 1922 lot, many of the 2010 intake are frustrated with their limited prospects for promotion. When Louise Mensch asked in her recent GQ interview “What do I have to do to get promoted over here?”, she was voicing the concerns of many of her contemporaries. In forming the 301 group, it seems that they may have found their route to the PM.

Or not. With the Queen’s speech pencilled in for May, accompanied by the opening of a new Parliament, the 1922 committee will be holding elections for new office-holders. A current member told me that the committee is anticipating a fresh move by the prime minister to gain a foothold in their hierarchy by putting forward a slate of new-intake MPs to challenge the current office-holders.

Such a move would serve two purposes for Cameron – it would appease the 301 group by attempting a modernisation of the 1922 committee, but it would also potentially provide them with positions of authority, so the complaints about the lack of promotion would cease. On top of that, if they were successful, the '22 would suddenly become a much more managable group for the PM than it is at the moment.

If, as Benedict Brogan suggests, a ministerial reshuffle is becoming less likely this year, it may well be that it’s through the 1922 committee that the PM is going to seek to appease his ambitious, frustrated backbenches.

Tags: 1922 committee, 301 Group