2h ago
09.18
David Davis urges fellow anti-Johnson Tories to
let PM stay for a year to avoid paralysing government
Good
morning. Boris Johnson has been out of the country now for most of the last
week but, as is often the case when a PM goes abroad to focus on international
affairs, a domestic crisis remains a distraction. The two byelection defeats
last week turbocharged (as they would say in No 10) Conservative party
opposition to Johnson and his critics have been working on plans to get a slate
of MPs elected to the executive of the 1922 Committee before the summer recess
so they can change the rules, and allow a second no confidence vote to go ahead
before next year.
But there
was good news this morning for Johnson when David Davis, the former Brexit
secretary who has already publicly called for Johnson to quit, declared that he
was opposed to the rules being changed. Having won the confidence vote, Johnson
should be allowed to remain in office unchallenged for another year, Davis
said.
Davis
stressed that he had not changed his mind about Johnson’s performance as PM.
But a rule changing would set a bad precedent, because it would paralyse
government decision making, he said.
Whether
it’s Boris or anybody else, dealing with stagflation is going [to require] some
really difficult decisions. Do you want a leader, whoever it is, looking over
his shoulder every month at this tax increase or whatever?
So no, I
don’t want the rules changed. I don’t think they will change either.
Davis said
that meant Johnson had a year to show that he could deliver on the promises he
had made, and he said the key requirement was for the government to start
cutting taxes.
I
campaigned in 16 rebel seats and in Wakefield. I got the same thing coming at
me every time. ‘We expect you to be a low tax party. We are not seeing that any
more.’ We got to the highest tax take in history last year.
When it was
put to Davis that the government did not have an agreed post-Brexit economic
plan, he replied.
We don’t
really have an agreed economic plan full stop.
I have
people, working-class voters in council estates, saying you’re not behaving
like a Conservative government. You’re not Conservative. That is a terrible
thing to have to face down if you are running the country.
Here is the
agenda for the day.
9am: The G7
summit in Germany, which Boris Johnson is attending, starts with an address
from Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president. During the day, as well as
attending sessions on climate, energy and health policy, and on food security
and gender equality, Johnson is recording an interview with the BBC’s Chris
Mason, and holding a meeting with the South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa.
12.15pm:
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, holds a summit on setting up
abortion buffer zones outside abortion clinics.
1.30pm:
Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
2.30pm:
Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
3pm: Kate
Forbes, the Scottish government’s finance minister, gives evidence to the
Commons Scottish affairs committee.
After
3.30pm: Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, opens the second reading debate on
the Northern Ireland protocol bill.
I try to
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