Prime minister Boris Johnson faced a shrinking majority in the Commons on Monday after a number of MPs rebelled and more abstained on a vote over the government’s social care reforms.
The set back was just one of a string of problems that have been fast-bowled at the government, and the Johnson premiership, in recent weeks.
The Owen Patterson lobbying row, a debate about Tory sleaze, and a betrayal on HS2 were topped off by a rambling speech from the prime minister on Monday.
The speech, which included a tangent on Peppa Pig and Johnson impersonating a car engine, fell flat with the Tory faithful and prompted a behind the scenes briefing war.
One Downing Street source reportedly told the BBC that there was “a lot of concern inside the building about the PM… it’s not just working.” They added: “The cabinet needs to wake up and demand serious changes otherwise it’ll keep getting worse.”
A Tory MP told The Guardian that the performance “was the most embarrassing by a Conservative prime minister since last week’s PMQs. Someone needs to get a grip. He is losing the confidence of the party.”
But is this all a “Westminster bubble” story? Tory MP Jeremy Hunt has said that he does not expect people to remember the prime minister’s faltering Peppa Pig speech.
He said: “In politics you have speeches that go well, that don’t go well. I mean, you’re talking to someone who as the foreign secretary called his Chinese wife ‘Japanese’ and I managed to get through that.
“So I don’t think in the grander scheme of things people will remember that particular speech.”
But what do you think? How do you feel about the current government? Will the growing number of problems end up sticking or is this another issue that Boris Johnson can emerge from unscathed? If you think the government’s made mistakes, what are they?
What have been the most egregious and will any of them be remembered?
Let us know what you think in our poll below
