Boris Johnson has been accused of showing “complete contempt” for the north of England, as a senior Tory MP warned him that it was an “illusion” to think the party would comfortably take the seats it won for the first time in 2019. of the next general election.
Anger erupted after the prime minister withdrew from the Doncaster conference at the last minute, with those at the Red Wall addressing the prime minister.
Members of the 50-member Northern Research Group (NRG) of Tory MPs have been promised that Johnson will be the keynote speaker at their event for hundreds of activists – hours before he has to speak.
It later emerged that the prime minister was in Ukraine, where he met with President Vladimir Zelensky. A source told the Guardian that a meeting between Johnson and Zelensky on Friday had been scheduled on the “government network” for at least a week.
A Tory MP said the visit was “not an excuse” as Johnson “could go there at any time” and added: “Even his most loyal supporters are quite angry.” Another said it was “not a loss for us”, but warned: “The prime minister must make every effort to support and respect the people who hold his future in his hands.”
A senior NRG source said the group, one of the Conservative Party’s biggest caucus, was a constituency that helped secure Johnson’s 80-seat majority and “came for him” during the no-confidence vote. last week.
“This goodwill is gone,” they said, adding that Johnson’s actions “showed complete contempt for colleagues, contempt for members and contempt for the north.”
Jake Berry, chairman of the NRG, had earlier warned Johnson to deliver on promised tax breaks and said the government should not take for granted the dozens of seats it won in former Labor hearts. He said he was not sure the Tories would keep Wakefield in the by-elections next week.
After Chancellor Rishi Sunak signaled that he would wait until spiraling inflation fell before cutting taxes, Berry said it was “time to stop talking about being a low-tax country and becoming a low-tax government.”
While Sunak’s support for households was welcomed by Berry, he said he did not believe “prices will fall at that time next year”, so a “different approach” is needed to reduce taxes, “because it is always” .
He said there was a “causal link” between the UK as the only G7 country facing a “crisis in the cost of living by raising taxes” while experiencing a “slowest growing economy”.
Berry said he was “really disappointed” with Johnson’s absence, but understood that the prime minister “had to do things from time to time besides coming to Doncaster – although that would be our top priority.”
The prime minister was defended in a series of tweets from Ben Wallace on Friday night. The Minister of Defense called the criticism of the trip “a lot of nonsense”, adding: “I myself, as an MP from Northern Europe, am not offended by the fact that he had to cancel his speech at the conference … To help Ukraine win and try to help at home are related.
“Part of the inflation we are seeing is coming from gas and food prices, which are rising in part because of this conflict.
Emphasizing the importance of Johnson’s involvement with the NRG, Berry said that “people who think the Conservative Party now has the right to win in the north of England are suffering from a kind of illusion.” I think what was different about 2019 ., was that there was an acceptance of this, there was something like a recognition by the Conservative Party that we need to do better and we have a plan to do it.
“People understand that Covid intervened, but без political theory without implementation is just a hallucination – and now we have to move relentlessly to bring about real change for the people.”
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Berry also warned: “Parties that do not listen to the electorate face political destruction.
Although Johnson missed the opportunity to hear from his northern Tory MPs and activists, Berry said she would call him tomorrow to push for key ideas that the NRG is promoting.
Among them were the provision of local areas with powers to set taxes for metro mayors, a new equalization formula for a more even distribution of money in England and a promise by the government to increase the number of young people following higher apprenticeships. from 21% to 50% by 2030
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