- Boris Johnson says speculation over his future is driving British people ‘nuts’ The Guardian
- Boris Johnson spoke to finance minister, not worried about resignations, source says Reuters UK
- Boris Johnson says change to his character ‘not going to happen’ as pressure mounts over byelection defeats – UK politics live The Guardian
- Boris Johnson can no longer count on his Cabinet for blind loyalty after Dowden departure iNews
- Editorial: By-elections show voters have run out of patience with Boris Johnson The Independent
Boris Johnson has claimed questions over his premiership have been “settled” and speculation over his future is driving the British people “nuts”, as pressure piles on his leadership after the Tories’ double byelection defeat.
The prime minister also warned Tory MPs considering further moves to unseat him to focus instead on the needs of those in the UK who are irritated by rows centred on Westminster.
His comments came amid claims of new attempts from backbench MPs seeking to unseat him after losing the two byelections in Wakefield and in Tiverton and Honiton and the resignation of his party co-chair Oliver Dowden.
Johnson, asked by reporters if questions over his leadership were settled, said: “Yes.” He then added: “What’s driving people nuts is this endless churn of stuff about things that I’m meant to have stuffed up or whatever about my colleagues, their view of me, my character, the leadership, Tory blah blah.”
Reports have claimed some MPs are seeking to change 1922 Committee rules so they can hold another vote of confidence. MPs who want to remove the prime minister are seeking election to the 18 most senior posts on the 1922 Committee, which dictates how to conduct confidence votes in Tory party leaders, the Telegraph claimed.
Asked how he would respond if “the men in grey suits” asked him to step aside, he said: “I love my colleagues and I will always. I would urge them respectfully to – golden rule of politics, Johnson’s rule No 1 – focus. The more we are talking about Westminster politics, the more irritating it is to the voters.”
At present, Johnson is protected from another leadership vote for a year, after winning a poll this month – despite 41% of Tory MPs voting for his removal.
Dowden’s resignation has led to concerns others could follow this weekend. As the scale of the defeats in Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton sank in – both with worse than expected swings against the Conservatives – a string of senior Tories added their voices to those calling for Johnson to go.
Johnson said the lesson he had taken from the byelection defeats was not to be distracted by the “endless churn” of news claiming he had “stuffed up”.
“I think that the lesson I take from the byelections in Tiverton and in Wakefield is very simple: I think that actually people were fed up of hearing about things I had stuffed up or allegedly stuffed up or whatever – this endless, completely legitimate, but endless churn of news about one particular type of news about one type of thing. And they wanted me to be getting on with the job,” he said.
Earlier, Johnson told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that his role was to look at exactly what happened and “think which criticisms really matter”.
When it was put to him that Dowden had resigned saying business could not continue as usual, Johnson said: “If you’re saying you want me to undergo some sort of psychological transformation, I think that our listeners would know that is not going to happen. What you can do, and what the government should do, and what I want to do, is to get on with changing and reforming and improving our systems and our economy.”
The prime minister is not due to return to the UK until Thursday evening, after attending a G7 summit in Germany and a Nato meeting in Spain.
Johnson declined to comment on reports that he had planned to build a £150,000 treehouse in the grounds of Chequers but was forced to abandon the idea after the police raised security concerns. It was claimed by the Times that the prime minister and his wife, Carrie, wanted to build the treehouse at the country retreat in autumn 2020 for their son, Wilf.
Oliver Dowden’s resignation puts Boris Johnson in dangerous territory
Katy Balls
There were discussions about having David Brownlow, a Tory donor, fund the project and plans for the treehouse were drawn up, it was claimed, but the project was dropped after the prime minister’s close protection officers warned of a security risk because the treehouse would be visible from the road.
The report said the design included bulletproof glass, which increased the cost of the project significantly. The couple decided against pursuing the plans after the advice of the police, it was claimed.Asked on Saturday if a penny of taxpayers’ or donors’ money was spent on the plan, Johnson said: “I’m not going to comment on nonexistent objects or nonexistent jobs to do with my family.” He did not deny that plans had been drawn up.
PM dismisses idea of 'psychological transformation' on his part
Husain asks whether Johnson is approaching the byelection defeats with an attitude of “more of the same” rather than admitting he needs to change.
“If you are saying you want me to undergo some sort of psychological transformation, your listeners know that is not going to happen,” he says.
“I want to get on with changing and reforming our systems and economy. If we’re going to have an argument about politics, let’s have an argument about how the railways run, that is a subject of engrossing fascination for people up and down the country because of the rail strikes.”
Here’s a roundup of today’s politics news and developments.Boris Johnson has said that he won’t undergo “some sort of psychological transformation” in response to criticism from parts of his party after two byelection defeats on Friday.
Johnson refused to give examples of when he would consider resigning, beyond public and political appetite for supporting the Ukrainian government during the conflict with Russia.
Foreign secretary Liz Truss has said she has “100%” faith in the prime minister, as does the cabinet.
The third day of rail strikes this week have got underway, meaning about a fifth of normal services are running.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch has said transport secretary Grant Shapps should “tone down the rhetoric” and “get on with the job”.
An opinion poll of 2,000 people, conducted before the strike action took place, backed the RMT and three out of five people said the government should intervene to get a settlement.
Its assistant director general Eddie Dempsey told a rally at King’s Cross station in London that current proposals will mean rail workers would have to accept “being poor, losing jobs and protecting profits of private companies.”
The number of people who have arrived in Britain in small boats from the French coast has now reached more than 12,000. According to the Ministry of Defence, 231 people arrived on Friday in five boats.
Boris Johnson planned to spend £150,000 on buying a treehouse for his son Wilf at Chequers, according to a story in the Times.
That’s all for today, thank you for following along. Enjoy the rest of your Saturday, and if you’ve not had your fill of live blogs, a reminder that our Glastonbury live coverage continues.
When Boris Johnson appeared at a press conference from Rwanda on the day his party lost two by-elections – Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton – along with his party chairman, he had an air of defiance.
The Prime Minister said he planned to keep on going even though that meant people would continue to beat him up: “Voters and journalists have no one else to complain to. I have to get on with the job.”
Only getting on with the job is about to become harder than ever. The Prime Minister’s authority has slowly weakened over the past six months – the by-election results mark the latest downgrading. The departure of Oliver Dowden is a turning point. Up until this point, one of the few things Johnson had managed to keep a grip on as scandal dominated was his Cabinet.
Despite widespread unrest across the parliamentary party, his ministers have stuck by him – regularly going out for increasingly bruising morning rounds. The decision by Dowden to quit as party chairman in the face of constituency losses marks a new chapter – one in which his Cabinet is unlikely to show blind loyalty. “He’s still alive but he is much, much weaker,” says a former minister.
Given Dowden is a party man without leadership ambitions and backed Johnson early in 2019, his departure is hard to write off as a politician who has their own anti-Boris agenda. Rather, the situation became untenable.
A sign of Johnson’s loosening grip can be found in some of the statements from ministers in response to the result. Johnson’s biggest supporters like Nadine Dorries still offered ringing endorsements, but there was a subtle shift elsewhere. The Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi opted to talk only about the “Conservative government”, while Chancellor Rishi Sunak only referred to his work priorities. Neither mentioned Johnson by name or suggested he was the best-placed figure to lead.
“A lot of colleagues are thinking what will they do if there is another confidence vote in the next 12 months,” says an old Tory hand. Johnson’s weakened position means that there are ministers who take the view that they now have a licence to work out what a leadership bid would look like in the event that Johnson is forced out. Why be caught off guard?
MPs are more twitchy over their seats, too, including some in Cabinet. The Tiverton and Honiton vote – which saw the Lib Dems successfully overturn a majority of over 24,000 – is viewed as a combination of a by-election effect where the Tory vote is unusually suppressed as many voters stay at home and voter trends that show the party is turning off voters in the south. “Any MP with a 12,000 majority will be very worried,” says one party figure predicting where the concern will be.
There is talk of a reshuffle to assert Johnson’s authority, though doing so is fraught with risk. So many MPs believe that they have been promised promotion that it will be hard to shake up his team without triggering a backlash. Even sacking junior ministers who are viewed as disloyal is tricky as they could cause No 10 even more of a headache on the back benches.
There are some optimists left in government. In Downing Street, aides have been making the point that if you combine the two by-elections and tally the votes – of over 70,000, roughly that of a constituency – the Tories come out on top. But this is a level of optimism that the bulk of MPs are missing. One aide searching for a silver lining says: “We all have no choice but to crack on with actual governance.”
Although Johnson is technically safe for 12 months it could change. “The real danger is that people wake up to the fact that sufficient members of the public hate Boris Johnson so much they will do anything to get rid of him,” says a senior Tory. “If the parliamentary party wakes up to it, he could be gone in the not too distant future.”
Judging by the muted endorsements coming from inside Johnson’s own government, that sense is starting to grow.
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