Boris Johnson has tried to deactivate a dispute sparked by his statement that he wanted to remain in office until the 2030s, saying he meant he was focused on his reform agenda.
Arriving after two major partial electoral defeats revived talks in Johnson’s Conservative party that was forced to step down in weeks or months, the prime minister’s comment on planning a third term prompted a former minister of the cabinet would say he was “completely deceived.”
Johnson tried to clarify his comment when he spoke to reporters at the G7 summit in Bavaria, Germany, on Sunday morning. But as he continues his long journey abroad – he has been to Rwanda for the Commonwealth summit, and will travel to Spain for a NATO summit when the G7 ends – at home some Conservative MPs are increasingly focused on what they can do to kick him out.
Before leaving Rwanda, Johnson was asked if he intended to run for a full second term, if he won the election, taking him to 2028 or 2029. Johnson replied, “Right now I’m actively thinking. in the third term and you know what might happen then. But I’ll check it out when I get there. “
When asked what it meant to leave after a third term, Johnson said that would mean staying in office until “the mid-2030s.”
The number 10 initially suggested Johnson might have been joking, but this morning the prime minister said he focused on the long-term challenges the country faces.
“What I’m saying is that this is a government that is being given to the people of this country and we have a lot to do,” he told reporters at the G7.
“In the immediate future we need to get people to overcome the current global inflationary pressures, post-Covid inflationary pressures, exacerbated by Ukraine that people have, the energy price spikes we have.
“But at the same time we have a massive agenda of reform and improvement, a plan for a stronger economy, by which we need to reform our energy markets, our housing markets, the way our networks work. transport, our public sector, we “We need to reduce the cost of government.”
Johnson said his golden rule was to “focus on what we’re doing.”
Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis took a similar line when asked to defend Johnson’s comment on his third term in Sunday morning’s interviews. He told Sky News: “Seeing this kind of enthusiasm, and let’s be honest, someone who enjoys doing the work and wants and has plans for the country, I think having that ability to look forward is a good thing.
“We are often criticized in politics when we look at the short term, just the next day, the next election, the next vote. In fact, we have someone as prime minister who wants to look at the long term.”
Sign up for First Edition, our free daily newsletter, every weekday morning at 7:00 BST
Other Tories were less generous. A former supporter of the prime minister, a former cabinet minister, told the Observer Johnson’s comments were “completely delusional”, while a senior MP from a “red wall” seat said Johnson was ” showing growing signs of a bunker mentality, and that never ends well ”.
Prime ministers often deal with questions about how long they intend to remain in office because setting an early end date tends to undermine authority, while promising to “go on and on,” as Margaret Thatcher did a instead, it only infuriates colleagues waiting for a transfer. .
Johnson’s statements sounded especially rounded because earlier this month 41% of Conservative MPs voted against him in a vote of confidence. Activists also cited Johnson’s unpopularity with voters as a major factor in the Conservatives losing the two by-elections, especially in Tiverton and Honiton, where the Liberal Democrats set a record for the size of an annulled majority. in a by-election (24,239).
Deputies opposed to Johnson plan to use the upcoming 1922 Conservative Committee election to continue efforts to overthrow him. If a majority of anti-Johnson MPs are elected to the executive, they could remove the current rule by preventing another vote of censure before June 2023.