Today has been a double blow to Boris Johnson. First, he now faces an investigation by the Privileges Committee into whether he deliberately misled the house when he said that the Covid rules were followed in Downing Street. At the very least, this means that this story – which is exhausting Tory MPs – won’t end with the publication of the Gray report. Second, the U-turn has shown that Tory MPs aren’t prepared to go all in on defending Johnson.
Most Tory MPs will keep their counsel until after the local elections next month
The new whipping operation has generally received positive reviews from Tory MPs. But the amendment it put down last night misread the mood of the parliamentary party. A large number of Tory MPs didn’t want to do something that would make it very easy for their opponents to attack them for trying to stymie an investigation into what happened. This led to the government having to drop its amendment and simply allow the Labour motion to pass unopposed, as Isabel explains here.
Another worry for Johnson is that Steve Baker, who backed him on Tuesday, is now calling on Johnson to go. Baker’s reasons are personal, he feels that Johnson’s performance in a meeting of Tory MPs on Tuesday night suggested that his contrition in the house earlier had not been genuine. But as one Boris cabinet loyalists admits, ‘If he organises against Boris, that is a problem’. At the very least, the fact that Baker – the self-styled hard man of Brexit – is calling for Johnson to go will make some Remain backing Tory MPs more prepared to go public with their concerns.
I suspect most Tory MPs will keep their counsel until after the local elections next month. But as one former cabinet Minister observes, ‘what do people say at 10 p.m. on election night?’ Johnson is far from through this crisis.
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