Boris Johnson has been accused of showing “total contempt” for the north of England, as a senior Conservative MP warned him that it was an “illusion” to think the party would comfortably occupy the seats it won for the first time. 2019 to the next general. choice.
Anger erupted after the prime minister withdrew from a conference in Doncaster at the last minute, with the seats on the “red wall” turning against the prime minister.
Members of the Northern Research Group (NRG) group of 50 Conservative MPs were promised that Johnson would be the keynote speaker at his event for hundreds of activists, hours before he was due to speak.
It later emerged that the Prime Minister was in Ukraine, meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. A source told the Guardian that a meeting between Johnson and Zelenskiy on the “government grid” was scheduled for at least a week on Friday.
A Conservative MP said the visit “was not an excuse” as Johnson “could have gone there at any time” and added: “Even his most loyal followers here are quite angry”. Another said it “did not harm us”, but warned: “The Prime Minister should make every effort to support and respect the people who have their future in their hands.”
A senior NRG source said the group, which represents one of the Conservative Party’s top caucuses, represents the electoral groups that helped secure Johnson’s 80-seat majority and that “it has been achieved” during the vote. confidence last week.
“That goodwill is gone,” they said, adding that Johnson’s actions had “shown utter contempt for colleagues, contempt for members, and contempt for the North.”
NRG chairman Jake Berry earlier warned Johnson to abide by the promised tax cuts and said the government should not take for granted the dozens of seats it won in former Labor centers. He did not trust, he said, that the Conservatives would keep Wakefield in next week’s by-elections.
After Chancellor Rishi Sunak said he would wait until spiraling inflation eased before tax cuts, Berry said it was “time to stop talking about being the low-tax party and becoming the government. of low taxes “.
While home support announced by Sunak was welcomed by Berry, he said he did not believe that “prices will go down at this time next year”, so a “different approach” to lowering taxes was needed. “because this is permanent.” .
He said there was a “causal link” between the UK being the only G7 country to “face a cost-of-living crisis by raising taxes” while experiencing “the slowest-growing economy” .
Berry said he was “very disappointed” by Johnson’s failure to appear, but that he understood that the Prime Minister “occasionally has to do other things than come to Doncaster, although for us that would be the our priority “.
Impressing the importance of Johnson collaborating with the NRG, Berry said that “people who think the Conservative Party now has a right to win in the North of England are kind of excited … I think the what was different in 2019 was that there was There was an acceptance of that, there was a kind of awareness on the part of the Conservative Party that we need to do better and we have a plan to do that.
“People understand that Covid has intervened, but … political theory without implementation is just a hallucination, and now we have to move relentlessly to implement real change for the people.”
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Berry also warned: “Parties that do not listen to the electorate are facing political annihilation.”
Although Johnson missed the opportunity to hear from his deputies and conservative activists in the north, Berry said he would “call him tomorrow” to push the key ideas promoted by the NRG.
These included the granting of local areas with tax powers for the mayors of the tube, a new leveling formula for distributing money more equitably in England, and the government’s promise to increase the number of young people in school. of higher level from 21% to 21%. 50% in 2030.