Boris Johnson has plunged the Conservative Party into a sharp identity crisis as a result of the Partygate and the U-shaped changes in fiscal policy, he warned last night the Conservatives, as more MPs called for him to resign as the first minister.
Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan-Smith told the Observer that his party had been left with a “huge identity problem” because it had raised taxes instead of cutting them under Johnson and Chancellor Rishi. Sunak, undermining a basic conservative message that had helped win him over. successive general elections.
Doubts about Johnson’s ability to survive as prime minister, and fears that the Conservatives are now in a terminal election fall, grew as the big party Sir Bob Neill said that the combination of the collapse of the confidence in the prime minister, along with a lack of clarity on what the Conservatives advocated, had created a “toxic mix” in the minds of voters. Neill asked Johnson to leave on Friday.
Two other MPs yesterday, former Health Minister Steve Brine and Anne Marie Morris, said they had also lost confidence in Johnson, bringing the total to 24.
It is understood that several others wrote letters of censure to the 1922 President, Sir Graham Brady, without going public, and more have indicated in private that they will do so. If 54 or more deputies send letters to Brady, a leadership contest will be triggered.
“I think we’re in the 40s,” one rebel MP said. Another added, “We’re just a few.”
On Thursday and Friday there was a mood of relief bordering on joy on Downing Street, as Johnson and his team believed they had survived the publication of a condemnatory report on Partygate by the High official Sue Gray, and then focused on measures to address the cost of living crisis on Thursday.
Although a £ 15bn package announced by Sunak was widely accepted, many Conservatives were unhappy that the government had funded part of it by making a massive U-turn that saw it adopt the Labor plan for Sunak. an extraordinary tax on the profits of oil and gas companies. .
Duncan Smith said that instead of imposing a tax increase on businesses, Sunak should have reduced taxes for middle and low-income workers, and should have restored the Conservatives’ reputation as a party. low taxes.
“He had the margin not to make an extraordinary tax. Getting growth started is the priority. We need to avoid recession and to do that we need to lower taxes and get people to spend.
“Conservatives believe in lower taxes, leaving people with more money to make the best decisions. Unless we go back to that approach and cut taxes in the fall budget, we’re in real trouble.”
The Tories, he said, now risked gaining a reputation as a major state and high-tax party, as they also raised national security in breach of a manifesto commitment. “Not only do I think we have a bit of an identity issue, we have a massive identity issue,” he said.
Gavin Barwell, the former Conservative MP who served as Theresa May’s chief of staff at No. 10, said the party’s electoral prospects under Johnson were bleak: “By not taking action against a prime minister, about 60% “The Conservatives are the ones to resign. The deputies are sleepwalking to defeat the next election.”
Opinium’s latest Observer poll finds that 56% of all voters, including 32% of Conservative voters in 2019, believe Johnson should resign. The survey was conducted after the publication of the Gray report.
Oliver Heald, a Conservative MP for North East Hertfordshire, told voters he was talking to MPs about “what’s next”. He added: “I think it will take two or three weeks to find out the answer.” The key by-elections in Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton take place in three weeks. Former Cabinet Secretary Robert Buckland said on Saturday that “changes will have to be made” if the party suffers major defeats.
Liberal Democrats say many of those calling for Johnson’s resignation are in the Conservative seats they are heading for. “Conservative MPs who spent months defending Boris Johnson over Partygate are finally acting because they are worried about losing their seats,” said Vice President Daisy Cooper.
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Johnson caused more surprise on Friday, just two days after declaring himself “humiliated” by the Gray report, when it was announced that he had rewritten parts of the ministerial code so that ministers would no longer have to resign for minor breaches. It also removed a section of the code that referred to ethics. The work announced on Saturday that it would hold a debate on the day of the opposition in which the party would pledge to strengthen the code.
In another potential blow to Sunak, doubts are being raised this weekend over whether the extraordinary profits tax will rise to close to the £ 5bn the chancellor claimed on Thursday.
The Common Wealth Center’s left-wing think tank said it can only raise a fraction of that amount because of complex rules that make it possible to offset investments with profits.
The warning comes after the Liberal Democrats said delays in introducing the tax meant that £ 3bn had been lost from the “extraordinary gains” reported by oil and gas companies in 2021 and another £ 8bn. free so far this year.