Whenever things are going badly for Rishi Sunak, there is a common refrain from desperate Tory MPs: what about Boris? The former prime minister looms large over Sunak’s government. It’s not just the appearances he has made as a backbencher along with interventions on subjects like Ukraine. As one former cabinet minister recently put it: “If the polls stay this bad there’s only one thing that could possibly change it: Boris.”
Often Johnson doesn’t even need to say a word. Just the idea of a Boris Johnson intervention can fill the news – as MPs and government aides speculate on what his next move will be. Much of this suits the former Mayor of London – he has made clear to close colleagues that he believes he could mount a return one day, publicly comparing himself to Cincinnatus, the Roman dictator who returned from his plough. In the meantime, being talked about isn’t half bad for speaking fees.
Such hopes do face a significant setback. This was meant to be the week that Sunak faltered on the sticky issue of the Northern Ireland protocol and Johnson came in as the crusader. The former prime minister has spent the past few weeks planting seeds of discontent in expectation of his successor agreeing a bad deal.
A source close to Johnson criticised Sunak’s negotiating tactics with Johnson publicly going on to call for the Prime Minister to stick with his Northern Ireland Protocol Bill to unilaterally rewrite aspects of the agreement that dictates trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. It led allies of Sunak to warn him away from the issue on the grounds it could give Johnson a platform from which to rally supporters.
Instead, Sunak pressed on regardless and unveiled his revised deal. He looks the strongest he has since entering Number 10. Rather than be weakened by making too many compromises to Brussels, mainstream opinion in the Tory party is firmly in the Prime Minister’s favour. He has suffered no resignations as a result of the deal – and won praise from senior Brexiteers from former Brexit Secretary David Davis to one-time Brexit hardman Steve Baker. Meanwhile Johnson has been missing in action.
Government ministers admit surprise at how well the changes – which include a “Stormont break” to give unionists in Northern Ireland a mechanism to veto new EU rules – have been received by their own side. “It’s been better than expected,” says one member of government. “The ERG are finally realising how bad a deal Boris negotiated.”
Sunak could still face a rebellion. The DUP along with the European Research Group of Tory MPs are yet to offer a verdict. But it’s clear even with some pushback, Sunak has done better than many in his party expected. Prior warnings that he could face a rebellion of up to 100 Tory MPs are now viewed as wide off the mark in the Whips’ Office.
Johnson, too, is getting cold feet about going any further. His allies are playing down the idea he could make an intervention anytime soon claiming the wait is due to “study time”. Others who know him offer a different interpretation. “He moved too early,” says a politician who served in Johnson’s cabinet. “He now looks silly if he backs it and isolated with the awkward squad if he comes out against it. So he’ll probably just loiter in the shadows.” If Johnson wants to leave a revolution, for now it will be only the Brexit old-timers behind him. Members of the 2019 intake have rowed in behind Sunak.
It means any move from Johnson at present wouldn’t exactly scream the future. And that’s the problem for the Prime Minister. There is a growing sense of the need to refresh and it’s hard to do that with a leader of the past.
Few in the Tory party think Sunak’s new deal is perfect. There are plenty of aspects which give Brexiteers cause for concern – such as the circumstances in which the Stormont brake can be used and whether the UK government (which has a say) would really go along with it given it could mean retaliation from the EU.
But they do think it is an improvement and harbour a desire to move on from the fighting both on Brexit and internally of the past few years. The fact that Sunak’s softly softly approach has yielded results means that MPs are questioning whether the drama of the Johnson and Truss era was the right way to get things done. “Rishi appears to have shown you can achieve results with focus and politeness rather than sabre-rattling like Boris and Liz,” says one Tory MP.
The suggestion of a new chapter for the Tory party excites MPs – whereas a Johnson comeback looks more like a return to the past. That sense is likely to grow in the coming weeks.
The release of The Telegraph’s “Lockdown Files” with the paper due to publish thousands of private messages former health secretary Matt Hancock sent and received has been met with dread by politicians reluctant to revisit the government’s messy handling of the pandemic. More than that the privileges committee is due to kick into full swing in the spring where there will be evidence sessions on whether Johnson misled the House on partygate.
However, one party old hand warns that Number 10 ought not let a good week go to their heads given the various flashpoints coming up the track from the Budget to tricky local elections. But if Sunak can keep his party looking ahead, a majority will opt for a fresh approach over a return of the past two years.
The long demise of Boris Johnson – only Brexit old-timers will sign up to his revolution
2
2
02.03.2023
Whenever things are going badly for Rishi Sunak, there is a common refrain from desperate Tory MPs: what about Boris? The former prime minister looms large over Sunak’s government. It’s not just the appearances he has made as a backbencher along with interventions on subjects like Ukraine. As one former cabinet minister recently put it: “If the polls stay this bad there’s only one thing that could possibly change it: Boris.”
Often Johnson doesn’t even need to say a word. Just the idea of a Boris Johnson intervention can fill the news – as MPs and government aides speculate on what his next move will be. Much of this suits the former Mayor of London – he has made clear to close colleagues that he believes he could mount a return one day, publicly comparing himself to Cincinnatus, the Roman dictator who returned from his plough. In the meantime, being talked about isn’t half bad for speaking fees.
Such hopes do face a significant setback. This was meant to be the week that Sunak faltered on the sticky issue of the Northern Ireland protocol and Johnson came in as the crusader. The former prime minister has spent the past few weeks planting seeds of discontent in expectation of his successor agreeing a bad deal.
A source close to Johnson criticised Sunak’s negotiating tactics with Johnson publicly going on to call for the Prime........
© iNews
visit website
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Grant Arthur Gochin
Andrew Mitrovica
Mort Laitner
Gideon Levy
Priyamvada Gopal
Poonam Muttreja
Obaid Mir
Patrick Gathara
Zaher Sahloul
