Boris Johnson is facing growing danger over the Partygate scandal after a source said he was fined for a second event attended by the prime minister, while senior conservatives warned he could face a leadership challenge in weeks.
On Friday night, number 10 was forced to deny that Johnson had received another FPN notice for a gardening party on Downing Street on May 20, 2020.
In January, Johnson admitted to attending an event – held during the first national blockade, when indoor and outdoor social mixing was banned – for about 25 minutes, but said he “implicitly believes it is a business event”. Johnson’s chief personal secretary, Martin Reynolds, is said to have invited up to 100 people to “socially distanced” evening drinks.
A source told the Guardian that at least one FPN was issued on Friday to a Downing Street official who attended the event. As Johnson completed a two-day trade trip to India on Friday, a spokesman said he had not received a new fine.
On Thursday, Sofia police said they would not provide any updates on the FPN for violations of the Downing Street blockade until next month’s local elections “due to communication restrictions” before the May 5th vote, although criminal investigations and fines may continue .
This came when senior party figures warned that Boris Johnson was likely to face a leadership challenge if the Conservatives suffered significant losses in the May election.
The prime minister was told his support had “eroded significantly” after the government capitulated to allow a third investigation into the blockade violations, sparking a resumption of clashes between those struggling to replace him.
Deputies said allies of Jeremy Hunt, a former health minister, and Penny Mordaunt, a trade minister, have resumed discreet preparations for a leadership race.
During a shadowy trade trip to India, Johnson admitted he received a “pretty good kick” from his back players after the government tried to force them to postpone Partygate’s third inquiry from the Privileges Committee just to turn around. later. He vowed to fight, insisting he would still be prime minister in six months.
Meanwhile, clashes between his opponents and supporters have come to light. Connor Burns, the Irish minister, dismissed criticism of Johnson from some Tory assholes, saying there were “colleagues in parliament who never really supported the prime minister”.
Robert Hayward, a Conservative colleague and election expert, said Tory MPs, advisers and associations feared a controversy over the Partygate that would go on indefinitely. “I expect there will be some form of leadership competition at some stage, not immediately,” he told the BBC. “But support for the prime minister has eroded quite noticeably and has remained since the holidays.”
Hayward predicted that Johnson’s fall would be a “death of a thousand cuts,” given the various investigations by Scotland Yard, senior government official Sue Gray and now the municipality’s Privileges Committee.
He said lawmakers were “looking around” to decide who would be Johnson’s most appropriate replacement, and said: “They don’t have to admit it, but it’s the reality.”
Hayward added: “I think they are moving towards a position of who they started with, a position to say ‘this cannot go on and there is only one way to resolve this and that is to say that we will need some form of challenge, election of leadership, whatever happens. “
A source in the cabinet also predicts that the local elections on May 5 may be as difficult for the Conservatives as the European Parliament elections in 2019, where the party won its lowest share of the vote.
Ian Duncan Smith, a former Tory party leader, said many lawmakers have not become more hostile to Johnson because of poor governance of the vote that the prime minister is being investigated for misleading parliament.
However, he told the Guardian: “We will wait to see what happens in the end. Most of the audience is sick and tired of the story; Conservative MPs are tired of this story.
“Colleagues may decide that it is recoverable. If they come to the conclusion that it is too harmful, then it is over. This balance just sits and waits. I guess the local elections and the investigation will put an end to this. “
Steve Bryan, a former health minister, was also revealed to have told voters that a vote of confidence in Johnson “should be held„ sooner rather than later “. He sent an email: “This is not a sustainable situation and I suspect that additional FPNs will follow those issued last week. I will keep in touch with senior colleagues to see that confidence has been tested in the coming period. “
Robert Largan, the new Tory MP from High Peak in Derbyshire, the 14th most marginal place in the country, also told voters he would not “defend the vulnerable”.
“We cannot have a situation where there is one rule for politicians and another rule for everyone else,” he said. “I can assure you that he is taking the necessary steps to protect integrity in public life.
Rory Stewart, a former cabinet minister, also predicts that the May election will show that Johnson has “lost his magic and then Conservative MPs will conclude that there is no point in staying behind him.”
Tory lawmakers who filed no-confidence motion against Johnson were quietly optimistic that others would follow suit and be heartfelt by such as high back courts Mark Harper and Steve Baker, who called for the prime minister to leave this week. “They’ll just do it quietly or in private – until we’re left with these crazy people who wouldn’t get anything under another regime,” one suggested.
Another MP who supports Johnson admitted: “It’s so unpredictable and it seems like everything has changed again. From the thought that he must be safe, I moved on to the thought of “this is it.” A Conservative MP who previously kept an open mind about Johnson’s future diagnosed concerns about his political leadership as “terminal”.
At the end of his two-day trip to India, an annoyed Johnson was unable to escape new questions about the Partygate dispute. He was adamant that he would still be prime minister in October – when he hoped the free trade agreement with India could be ready for signing – and insisted he was in India to discuss issues of interest to British voters. .
“I think what people want in our country is for the government to take up and focus on the issues we have been elected on, and that is what we will do – and I think they will be particularly interested in jobs. and growth in the United Kingdom, “he said, continuing to emphasize co-operation with the Indian government in the field of green energy and defense.
In a strange outburst, when asked if he would be compared to a nine-life cat, he said, “We had a pretty good cat kick yesterday,” but quickly added, “Not that I’m for kicking cats.”
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