Boris Johnson’s cantonment right after Partygate has sparked even more anger among rebel Tory MPs, with momentum now rising to a leadership challenge next week.
Conservative whips spent the first day of the holiday calling anxiously around the parliamentary party to support the prime minister, while three other lawmakers called on him to resign, including Jeremy Wright, the former attorney general.
Several Tory MPs told the Guardian that they believe the threshold of 54 letters withdrawing support for Johnson is close to being crossed – or perhaps has already been. This will trigger a secret ballot on whether they still trust the prime minister.
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Understandably, Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the commission since 1922, will have to use his own judgment on whether to declare that the cornerstone has been adopted immediately if it happens while Parliament is closed this week, or to wait until Monday, when the House of Commons returns after the Queen’s anniversary celebrations.
A critic of the prime minister from the back bench said lawmakers in early 2019 were “gathering the courage” to release letters before next Monday, but were worried about the consequences if number 10 identified them after a failed coup. They said the opposition to Johnson was increasingly coordinated and determined to provoke a vote, with nearly 30 lawmakers publicly declaring their opposition so far.
In a statement withdrawing support for Prime Minister Wright, Johnson said he had done “real and lasting damage” to the government institution, and while he could not be sure the prime minister had misled parliament, Johnson was at best. “Careless” in the way he approached the problem.
Elliott Coleburn, a Tory MP with a small majority against the Liberal Democrats, said he had sent a letter “some time ago”, while Nicki Aiken, a London MP and Westminster MP whose council turned Labor this month, called on Johnson to end the situation. by submitting a letter of distrust to himself. Tory MP Andrew Bridgen also told voters he had resubmitted his letter.
The confusion over Johnson’s presidency is exacerbated by the Tories in the so-called Blue Wall, at the risk of losing them to the Liberal Democrats and the Marginalists on the Red Wall, where they have a small majority over Labor.
With Johnson’s future on balance, No. 10 has begun to launch a number of right-wing, nationalist policies in recent weeks. These include the return of imperial measures, plans to repeal the Northern Ireland Protocol, hints at expanding high schools, a review of fracking and repeated promises to violate more EU regulations.
A cabinet minister told the Guardian that Johnson appears to be trying to stop the party’s right to turn against him in the event of a leadership challenge, citing policies such as fracking reconsideration – which is unpopular in the election but appeals to the minority. Parliament.
But Tory sociologists and some centrist lawmakers have warned that this “major vote” is the wrong way to drop public confidence in Johnson, so low among hesitant voters. Tobias Eloud, a former Tory minister and chairman of the defense committee, warned: “We will lose the next election on the current trajectory, as reflected in the last election.
“There are not only concerns about the behavior of number 10, because it has undermined the confidence of the British, now there are concerns that number 10 thinks what our policies are.
Regarding the policy of weights and measures, he told Sky News: “There will be people in our party who will like this nostalgic policy in the hope that it will be enough to win the next election. But this is not the case. This is not the conservative thinking of a nation that is required to attract outside our base. “
One Tory cabinet source said the imperial policy was “absolutely banana”, while another cabinet source said “no idea which doll came up with the idea” because “that’s not the goal of the government’s overall strategy.” “.
Another Conservative MP said it was a place in the “heart of Middle England” and about half of the main Conservative voters there had lost faith in the prime minister.
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Some local government leaders also expressed a lack of confidence in Johnson. Rishi Sunak local council leader Carl Les, the conservative leader of the North Yorkshire County Council, said he thought it was time for a leadership election, blaming Johnson for the heavy losses in the local election.
“I am very disappointed that the strong majority we had in North Yorkshire has shrunk to a working majority, but only a large part of the comments we received on the doorstep were about the impact of Partygate,” Les said.
The warnings of lawmakers and councilors were echoed by sociologists and political strategists, including former councilors James Johnson and Will Tanner. Both said Johnson was on the verge of losing the election by turning right instead of focusing on goals for schools, hospitals, housing and the cost of living.
Tanner, a former №10 contributor and director of Conservative thinktank Onward, said: “My view is that while it is understandable that the Prime Minister and Downing Street would like to demonstrate their commitment to right-wing politics to satisfy some of his assholes. at a time when the prime minister is clearly worried about his future, these issues will not win the Conservative Party in the next election. “
He said he had “never sat in a focus group or conducted a poll in which issues such as the imperial scales and measures or the privatization of Channel 4 have been raised repeatedly” by voters Johnson is seeking in court.
He added: “It’s the NHS, immigration, crime, wages, good jobs in my city. These are the foundations on which the Conservative Party needs to focus, not those very small and niche issues that only matter to a few people.
James Johnson, a sociologist at JL Partners who worked for Theresa May, said: “Some of these things that may have made you smile in the past will actually make fun of you, the weight and ounces thing is a good example of that. We approach the situation with Johnson similar to the one we encountered with Corbyn, where individual policies may be popular, but the brand associated with them is toxic.
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