Boris Johnson warned to stop chaos by New Year as PM’s woes deepen

PM faces questions over leadership and ‘Plan B’ mutiny among Tory MPs grows

Boris Johnson was on Friday given a blunt warning to stop the chaos at the heart of government in the new year as talk grew among mutinous MPs over his leadership.

With the Prime Minister’s woes deepening, Cabinet minister Liz Truss, a potential leadership rival, told how she had been busy on post-Brexit trade deals while rule-busting Christmas parties were alleged to have been taking place at No10 and in other Whitehall venues.

More Tory MPs also declared that they would vote against new Covid restrictions next week which could inflict the biggest Commons revolt against Mr Johnson so far. Amid a febrile atmosphere at Westminster, the Prime Minister’s independent adviser on ministerial interests Lord Geidt was understood to be examining documents from the Electoral Commission, amid claims that he may have been misled over the refurbishment of Mr Johnson’s Downing Street flat, funded initially by a wealthy Tory party donor.

ITV News reported on Thursday night that Mr Doyle, who was deputy director of communications at the time, attended the party, giving a speech and handing out awards to members of staff. Asked on LBC Radio if he could say whether Mr Johnson would be in post this time next year, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, treasurer of the powerful 1922 Committee of backbench MPs, stressed that he was currently in “a very, very difficult time”.

He added: “If he comes back in the New Year refreshed and able to differentiate between his private life and his public life and clarify all the issues and then start to do the really big issues this country needs — restoring the NHS, dealing with carbon emissions and Cop 26, how we deal with the economy, helping businesses, if we can get on to that agenda away from these personal issues then I think he is fine.

Jack Doyle has been appointed as the new Downing Street Director of Communications
Downing Street’s head of communications Jack Doyle
Andrew Parsons / 10 Downing Street

“But if we go on having these what I call personal issues — issues of judgment by the Prime Minister, then I think that’s a very different scenario.”

Lord Barwell, Theresa May’s former chief-of-staff, said conversations were taking place at Westminster about Mr Johnson being replaced, not imminently, but before the next General Election, expected in 2024.

“MPs have talked to me about it,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“That does not mean it’s going to happen. But... Boris Johnson, more than any previous leader of the Conservative Party, his position depends on being seen as an electoral asset. If over a period of time, that goes, then he really is in trouble.” However, another former minister stated: “Until somebody comes forward as a natural heir, he will be there by default.”

Ms Truss, who was recently promoted from International Trade Secretary to Foreign Secretary, is seen as a contender in a future leadership race, along with Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

Boris Johnson baby
Prime Minister Boris Johnson with his wife Carrie, who gave birth to their second child on Thursday
PA

She made clear she was not involved in the “Christmas parties”.

“Last Christmas, I was spending my time getting trade deals over the line,” she told BBC presenter Nick Robinson’s Political Thinking podcast. “We had a lot of deals to get done by the December 31, so that was my focus.”

Mr Johnson has been at the centre of a series of controversies, including most recently the Owen Paterson sleaze storm U-turn. His family life is also hectic, with the Prime Minister and his wife Carrie on Thursday announcing the birth of their second child. At Westminster, he was facing fresh pressure over who paid for the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat with Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner writing to the ministerial standards watchdog Lord Geidt urging him to reopen his investigation.

The Electoral Commission’s report included details of a WhatsApp message Mr Johnson had sent to Lord Brownlow in November 2020 asking him to authorise further refurbishment works on the flat above Number 11 Downing Street.

That appeared to contradict the Prime Minister’s earlier claims that he had no knowledge of the payments by Lord Brownlow until prior to media reports in February 2021. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman has denied claims that Mr Johnson lied, saying he “acted in accordance with the rules at all times and that he didn’t know Lord Brownlow was providing the money to a “blind trust” he was organising to help manage the refurbishment, which reportedly cost more than £100,000.

In her letter to Lord Geidt, Ms Rayner called on the standards watchdog to publish the WhatsApp message sent by the Prime Minister to Lord Brownlow, adding that it suggested Mr Johnson was “at the very least not entirely honest in giving evidence”.

However, business minister Paul Scully defended the Prime Minister, insisting he was “very comfortable” with his integrity.

Meanwhile, more Conservative MPs were on Friday morning making clear to their constituents that they would be opposing tighter restrictions, including vaccine passports for nightclubs and other large venues from next Wednesday.

The measures are being brought in to stop the NHS being overwhelmed by a surge in Covid cases.

The revolt looks set to be bigger than the 53 Tory MPs who rebelled over the Covid tier system a year ago and would come just days before the North Shropshire by-election, a normally very safe Conservative seat.

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