One of the consequences of the virtual parliament is fewer opportunities for MPs to lobby No. 10. However, this afternoon MPs were given a rare audience with the Prime Minister as Boris Johnson appeared via video link for a meeting of the 1922 committee of Tory backbenchers. With a growing number of MPs anxious over what they view to be the slow pace of lockdown easing, the meeting was intended as an opportunity to raise concerns.
Instead, it was dominated by technology difficulties – with around 140 Tory MPs battling background noise – ranging from young children to noisy pets – as they tried to hold a conversation with the Prime Minister. The committee chair Sir Graham Brady spent much of the call asking MPs to put themselves on mute when they weren’t speaking.
As for what Johnson had to say, he told MPs that the government would take only ‘grandmother footsteps’ back to normality – and spoke of the huge effort it was making in tackling the disease.
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