A major Conservative donor has said he cannot support Boris Johnson after being accused of overseeing a non-Conservative government, making a “pathetic” promise to cut taxes and refusing to respond to calls for change. the course of his term as Prime Minister.
With the prime minister facing a split in Brexit in a matter of days and a growing revolt among party supporters after last week’s humiliating vote of confidence, hotelier Sir Rocco Forte said he would “not stand” the direction Johnson is taking the game.
He told the Observer that Johnson had mishandled the Partygate scandal and had been “severely damaged” by Monday’s vote of confidence, in which 148 MPs opposed the prime minister. However, in a sign of broader despair over the performance of the Johnson administration, Forte said it was simply “not a Conservative government.”
“He was elected to deliver Brexit and win an election, which he did, and he is probably the only person who could have done it the way it was done,” he said.
“But those of us who supported him hoped that he would create a competent team around him, as he did when he was mayor of London, and govern effectively. That just hasn’t happened. And the reality of this government is that it’s not a Conservative government.
Boris Johnson with billionaire John Caudwell in 2014. The founder of Phones4U wants more investment from the government. Photography: David M Benett / Getty Images
“If you have a business, you don’t feel like this government is behind you in any way. That’s what a Conservative government is supposed to be dealing with. he has suggested that he is already doing all the things that need to be done, I don’t think people on the right in the party, like me, are opposed to this.
“Unless I see a change, I don’t think I can support it in the future. I supported a Conservative government. If I don’t see a Conservative government, what’s the point of supporting it?
Forte handed Johnson £ 100,000 for the last election campaign. Worrying Johnson, other donors are also losing faith, but there are conflicting views on how the Prime Minister should handle things.
John Caudwell, the founding billionaire of Phones4U who gave the Tories £ 500,000 before the last election, did not say whether Johnson should go there, but called for more investment. “Instead of prudence, we need to apply for loans on an unprecedented scale and invest wisely, productively and profitably,” he said, noting renewable energy, infrastructure, subsidies for industry and learning.
It comes when a former Conservative party chairman Chris Patten said the party was clinging to the “Johnson cult”, with cabinet ministers unwilling to turn against him. The party was in the midst of a very long nervous breakdown.
Lord Patten added: “We have nothing but a Conservative government, but an English nationalist party that is populist, but inevitably unpopular.”
Unrest among donors and seniors is another sign that, despite relative calm among MPs since Monday’s vote, Johnson remains on unstable ground. A confrontation over Brexit is already underway. On Monday, the government will announce plans to effectively overturn the Northern Ireland Protocol, the section of the Brexit deal with the EU that governs the region.
While the government has been trying to reassure MPs that the proposals will not rekindle Brexit tensions, several sources have told the Observer that the government’s bill still includes sections annulling the protocol agreed with the EU, a measure that critics say is illegal and will provoke a rebellion.
Chris Patten, the former Conservative president, says the party is in a “Johnson cult.” Photo: Murder Macleod / The Observer
A Conservative source said: “The government is lying to its own MPs and the media about the illegal approach to this bill. Partygate, once again positioning the party in full force in support of non-compliance with the rule of law. “
It is understood that key legal advice was not presented to the cabinet committee overseeing the plans. The Observer has stated that Thomas D Grant, an academic lawyer who worked in the U.S. State Department during the Trump administration and has written legal articles supporting a harsh Brexit, has been advising on the bill. Whitehall sources said that while offering advice, he was not a central part of the legal team.
Last week there were frantic legal and political negotiations between Johnson, his cabinet and MPs. Johnson had been pressured to take a hard line and effectively overturn the protocol.
It creates an important flash point for Johnson. Some pro-Brexit MPs, including some from the European Research Grouping (ERG) who caused persistent problems for Theresa May, could withdraw her support if plans are deemed too weak. However, moderate conservatives also threaten to rebel if they believe the law violates international law.
An ERG source laughed at the idea that they had “a Machiavellian plot to take control of the party” by asking Johnson for a ransom. They said it was very important to make sure that the EU Court of Justice did not oversee UK law.
There have already been indications that as the immediate impact of the Covid pandemic diminishes, the clashes over Brexit will reopen. Workington Conservative MP Mark Jenkinson told the Daily Mail that “leftists, gentlemen and lovers” were showing that they still did not accept the result of the referendum. The newspaper also stated in an essay that “a counter-revolution has begun for the rest” and that replacing Johnson could lead to Brexit investment.