At least one Conservative MP from the 2019 reception is in advanced discussions about a potential move to Labor, another was elected, and then also in close talks with a Labor MP.
None of them met with Keir Starmer or had official contact with the leaders’ office, but it is understood that they communicate with Labor MPs. A senior party source said they doubted one MP’s intentions, but the other was more serious.
Both MPs are from the 2019 reception – one with a marginal seat. One voiced a Labor friend before the local election, and another recently.
A number of other Tory MPs in marginal positions expressed dissatisfaction with Labor MPs and suggested that they would keep their seats only by fleeing. A Labor official said there was some skepticism in the party about the motives of these lawmakers.
Another senior official said lawmakers had been told to manage potential deserters themselves as a trusted adviser – instead of involving the main whip, the party headquarters or the leader’s office. The Sunday Times reported over the weekend that up to six lawmakers were considering deserting.
On Sunday, the Auckland MP, Deena Davison, denied that she was considering deserting, as did Caroline Knox, an MP from Romsey and Southampton North. Both voted against Boris Johnson in the recent no-confidence vote.
Labor is stepping up the process of selecting key marginal positions in the coming weeks, and party sources have warned that it did not take long for potential deserters to decide. “If we have chosen someone for the position, we would like to introduce our candidate,” said one.
“We choose good people, Cair’s people, and we would give priority. In the end, we think we will still win these seats. The Wakefield result shows that we are on track to regain most of these places. “
Johnson will be absent from the PMQs this week after the devastating defeats in the midterm elections in Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton last Thursday, with Dominic Raab taking over as prime minister. The defeats led to the resignation of his party’s chairman, Oliver Dowden, and anger in the back seat was compounded by Johnson’s subsequent comments that he intended to run for two more elections.
The back members of the Tories – the majority of whom voted against Johnson in a no-confidence vote – will vote in the coming weeks on new members of the 1922 executive committee, which sets the rules for no-confidence votes. Ministers and those on government salaries cannot vote in elections.
Several members of the commission left to become assistant ministers, and Tory sources said they expected them to be replaced by critics of the prime minister, making the rules more likely to be changed to allow a new vote of confidence. Johnson is currently protected from voting for another year.
A former minister said he had warned his colleagues that they were campaigning too early for a new vote. “I think you can start looking ridiculous, my opinion is that it is time for the cabinet to act now that MPs no longer have the opportunity to do so,” they said.
No change in the rules will take effect before September, which means Johnson’s work is likely to be safe until the party conference.
On Monday, former Cabinet Secretary David Davis, who called for Johnson’s resignation, said he did not support an immediate change in the rules, but said the prime minister should change his approach instead.
“Do you want a leader, anyone who looks over his shoulder at this tax increase every month, or whatever?” So no, I don’t want the rules to change, “he said. “I don’t think they will change either, so he has to use the year he has to prove to us that he can actually deliver on the promises we made in the 2019 elections, which were low taxes.
The simple truth is that there are priorities in everyone’s life and for most people in the Red Wall and really places like mine – I’m from the north – the first question is paying the bills and whether the government should stop you from doing that. “This is a real problem for the Tory government.”
Johnson, who attended the G7 summit in Germany, insisted that the issue of his leadership had been addressed through a vote of confidence. “We settled this a few weeks ago,” he told reporters.
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