I have been a member of the Conservative Party for over 50 years. From pushing brochures as a Young Conservative to acting as a councilor, MP, minister and vice-president, I have worked for it at almost every level. As fortunately the church is large, I have done so under leaders of different personalities and political styles and nuances of Toryism. It’s been, and is, an important part of my life, so what I’m about to write is not easy.
I worked well with Boris Johnson. I campaigned enthusiastically for him to come to the mayor of London, where he did a brilliant job, and while we sometimes disagreed on individual policies, I always got along well with him. He has shown me and my family personal qualities that I am grateful for. Boris did a great service to the country in 2019 by avoiding the threat of a harsh left-wing Corbyn government and is entitled to real credit for our successful Covid vaccine implementation and the leadership he has shown in gathering West against Russian aggression in Ukraine. . I have no personal animosity towards him, but I have come to the conclusion that I should now resign.
The sad saga of “partygate” has been well rehearsed. Suffice it to say that it showed a totally unacceptable pattern of behavior on the part of some who worked at number 10, who broke the rules that the Government, and we as parliamentarians, were telling others who were living. I recognize the pressure they were working with, but this also applied to millions of others across the country trying to keep businesses, utilities, and family life afloat. Those who set the rules had a particular responsibility to abide by them. Nor was it a case of isolated mistakes, which we can all make and we could forgive if people approached them. This was a pattern of behavior that spread over a few months.
I always said I would wait until the conclusion of any police investigation and the release of the final report of senior official Sue Gray. My background as a lawyer made me want to have the most complete evidence possible before ruling. I have read the full report. I have listened carefully to the explanations given by the Prime Minister. I’m sorry, but I don’t find his claims credible, or that no rules have been broken, or that he was unaware of the breaches. I can’t accept that I wasn’t aware of much of what was going on.
This is my personal assessment of the evidence, and my colleagues in Parliament will come to their own personal conclusions. The other issue that weighs heavily on me is the response from my own voters.
Bromley is traditionally a suburban conservative center. He voted in favor of Boris in the 2008 and 2012 London mayoral elections. In fact, in 2012, the weight of our district’s votes exceeded his overall margin of victory. But in the May municipal elections the message was very different. Conservatives lost seats and votes across the township. The areas that had been blue since we can remember turned against us. Repeatedly, the message I received at the door and in my emails was that our Conservative council was doing a good job, but they couldn’t support us under Boris ’leadership.
The sad reality is that a significant part of the traditional Conservative electorate, not to mention oscillating voters, has lost confidence in the Prime Minister. For too many, the whole saga has undermined confidence in the political process itself. Trust is the most precious commodity in politics, perhaps in life. Once lost it is very difficult to recover. I don’t think Boris can now.
Accordingly, I sent a letter of censure to the leader of our party to the chairman of the 1922 committee. It is in the national interest for the Conservatives to win the next election, but it requires a change of leader for us to do so. Sir Bob Neill MP is the Conservative MP for Bromley and Chislehurst and Chairman of the Select Committee on Justice.