Markus Andrews

Boris Johnson was right to claim crime has fallen despite a rebuke from the official statistics watchdog, the business secretary has suggested.Kwasi Kwarteng defended the prime minister for leaving out the rise in fraud cases when he made his inaccurate claim in the Commons – suggesting that voters did not consider fraud a crime affecting their “day-to-day lives”.The cabinet minister said Mr Johnson was referring to “personal injury and crime in relation to individuals” when he told MPs that the government had been “cutting crime by 14 per cent”.Mr Kwarteng told the BBC: “The point the prime minister was making is that crime that people experience in their day-to-day lives … in terms of burglary, in terms of physical injury, has gone down and that’s absolutely right.”Labour MP Chris Bryant, chair of the select committee on standards, tweeted: “I can understand why Tories don’t want people to think fraud counts as crime.”It followed a Home Office press release which said latest data showed “crime continues to fall under this government”, quoting home secretary Priti Patel as saying it demonstrated the Government’s approach “is working”.The government had been placed under investigation by the UK Statistics Authority after receiving complaints about the claim.Despite a fall in most crimes during coronavirus lockdowns, some are now reaching or exceeding pre-pandemic levels – with rises in some offences like fraud offsetting reductions seen elsewhere, the Office for National Statistics said last week.The figures also showed police recorded the highest number of rapes and sexual offences in a 12-month period, while separate Home Office data detailed how the proportion of suspects being taken to court has fallen to a new record low and remains the lowest for rape cases.In a letter to Alistair Carmichael the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman who raised the issue, UK Statistics Authority boss Sir David Norgrove said the government had presented crime figures in a “misleading way”.But appearing on the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme, Mr Kwarteng said he did not know “what the evidence is” for the PM’s claim not being true. “All I know is certainly on the doorstep, people are saying that there is progress being made,” he said.It comes after the minister who was responsible for tackling fraud, Lord Agnew, dramatically quit the Government over the “schoolboy” handling of fraudulent Covid-19 business loans.In the letter to Mr Carmichael, Sir David said: “In this case, the Home Office news release presented the latest figures in a misleading way.“Likewise, the prime minister referred to a 14% reduction in crime … This figure also excludes fraud and computer misuse, though the prime minister did not make that clear.“If fraud and computer misuse are counted in total crime as they should be, total crime in fact increased by 14% between the year ending September 2019 and the year ending September 2021.”The watchdog works to “promote and safeguard official statistics”, and can intervene if it considers a politician or government department has misused or misrepresented figures.Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Suggesting that fraud is a lesser crime not experienced by people in their day-to-day lives is shamefully out of touch and disrespectful to victims across the country, scammed by dangerous criminals and losing hard-earned life savings. More

Iain Duncan Smith warns challengers to ‘temper ambition’ against Boris JohnsonIt is now “inevitable” that Conservative MPs will remove Boris Johnson from No 10 over the Partygate scandal, former 1922 Committee vice-chair Sir Charles Walker has said – as a Tory peer warned there was “not a chance in hell” the PM would resign of his own accord.As one MP urged his colleagues to “get on with it”, some Tory rebels expressed fears that a no confidence vote triggered “accidentally” too soon could see the prime minister remain in office for at least another 12 months.The warnings came as Mr Johnson announced two new appointments to Downing Street in an attempt to fill the void that had been left by five resignations in the space of 24 hours, with Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Steve Barclay becoming the PM’s chief of staff and former BBC journalist Guto Harri take the role of director of communications.Meanwhile, No 10 insiders warned that the increasingly isolated PM was becoming “unpredictable and erratic”, as his Cabinet appeared to fall into squabbles with reports that multiple ministers had accused Rishi Sunak of being “on manoeuvres” for the leadership – and called on Mr Johnson to sack his chancellor.Show latest update

1644158827UK needs to shift to renewables to protect from energy crises, MPs and experts sayAs the country faces a huge rise in energy prices when Ofgem’s cap is increased at the start of April, MPs and experts have told The Independent that the UK must shift to renewables to protect itself against future energy crises – and that the current turmoil should hasten – not delay – the march to net zero.Among them is shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband, who said that a “failure to transition to zero carbon” has made the UK “more vulnerable as a country”.My colleague Zoe Tidman has the full story here:Andy Gregory6 February 2022 14:471644157634Who is Boris Johnson’s new spin doctor?Much of the focus on Boris Johnson’s new Downing Street appointees rests today on Steve Barclay – and how he will manage to juggle his new role as Mr Johnson’s chief of staff with his existing responsibilities.But his appointment of Guto Harri as No 10 director of communications also may have raised a few eyebrows, given the former journalist’s past remarks about Mr Johnson.Mr Harri – a former chief political correspondent at the BBC, who recently made headlines with an acrimonious split from the fledgling GB News channel after taking the knee live on-air – served as a key aide to Mr Johnson while he was mayor of London.But speaking to BBC Radio 4 in 2018, Mr Harri said that while Mr Johnson had been “a huge unifying figure” in his time as mayor of London, he had since “gone the other way” and had “become more tribal, and tribal within the tribe, so that he would now be – if he were to become leader – a hugely divisive figure”.As Mr Johnson’s new spin doctor at a time of fears that public trust in the government has been harmed by the Partygate scandal, Mr Harri will be part of a No 10 operation seeking to restore any lost faith in Downing Street.Andy Gregory6 February 2022 14:271644154816Labour calls on Tories to give back £5m in Russian donationsThe Conservative Party should hand back £5 million in Russia-linked donations it has received over the last decade, Labour said today.Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves also called on the government to crackdown on money being laundered through the City of London.The Conservative government has warned President Vladimir Putin that ministers will target large Russian firms and Kremlin-linked oligarchs with sanctions if he invades Ukraine – a move that could cut off billions of pounds from the City.Mr Lammy went on Sky News and BBC to urge the Tories to lead by example by paying back the donations.Mr Lammy told Sky News: “Many of those individuals made money under Putin’s regime and if you go back to the break-up of the Soviet Union, taking over what were previously national industries,” he said.“The Times today is reporting the sons and daughters of people linked to Putin buying property here in London. “It’s against that backdrop that it’s wrong to change our election law to say that you can have limitless donations. “Of course it’s important that we are completely above board and any money associated with Vladimir Putin and his regime should be given back.”Lamiat Sabin6 February 2022 13:401644153616‘PM did not include fraud’ in his crime claims – Kwarteng suggestsBusiness secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has suggested that PM Boris Johnson did not include rates of fraud when he falsely claimed in the Commons that crime had fallen under his leadership.He said the prime minister was referring to “personal injury and crime in relation to individuals” when he told MPs “we have been cutting crime by 14 per cent”.On the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme, Mr Kwarteng said he did not know “what the evidence is” for the PM’s claim not being true.He said: “I think fraud is really, really important, but people are talking particularly about burglaries, about personal injury, about physical crimes, and I think in that context we’re seeing lower crimes, I think the Prime Minister was right.”Following the interview, Labour MP and chairman of the Commons Committee on Standards Chris Bryant tweeted: “I can understand why Tories don’t want people to think fraud counts as crime.”The government has since been placed under investigation by the UK Statistics Authority after receiving complaints about its claims on cutting crime.Despite a fall in most crimes during coronavirus lockdowns, some are now reaching or exceeding pre-pandemic levels – with rises in some offences like fraud offsetting reductions seen elsewhere, the Office for National Statistics said last week.Figures also show police recorded the highest number of rapes and sexual offences in a 12-month period, while the proportion of suspects being taken to court has fallen to a new record low and remains the lowest for rape cases.Lamiat Sabin6 February 2022 13:201644152500Ex-MEP who claims minister was Islamophobic says he will name individuals if Tories launch probeA former senior Tory MEP claims he overheard a serving minister plotting to use his Muslim faith against him politically – and today calls for the Conservatives to mount an investigation, pledging to name names.Sajjad Karim first raised an Islamophobia allegation more than two years ago but has now publicly shared with The Independent his most detailed account after accusing a party inquiry of excluding him.He claims that despite being told by Tory HQ that he would be contacted by the inquiry into discrimination within Conservative party ranks, its findings – which rejected allegations of institutional Islamophobia – were published last year without his evidence.You can read the full article from our chief reporter Simon Murphy here:Andy Gregory6 February 2022 13:011644151600Critical claims about Carrie Johnson ‘interesting’ but ‘not sexist’, minister suggestsA Cabinet minister has denied that Carrie Johnson has “undue influence – as claimed in Tory peer Lord Ashcroft’s new biography, which has been serialised in the Mail on Sunday this weekend.“The reportage that somehow she’s got undue influence, I don’t think that’s true, the prime minister has been in politics for 25 years and has a pretty strong set of ideas,” Kwasi Kwarteng said.But while the PM is reported to believe the claims are misogynistic, Mr Kwarteng said he did not believe the treatment of Ms Johnson was sexist, saying: “I wouldn’t say that but I do think it’s interesting when the spouse is someone in their 30s and has got open positions that are well known, people feel free to criticise – I think that’s interesting.”Pressed on what he meant by “interesting”, the minister replied: “I don’t think it’s sexist, I’m not going to go down the route of saying it’s sexist but I’m saying her views are under scrutiny in a way that perhaps other prime ministers’ spouses weren’t.”Andy Gregory6 February 2022 12:461644150820My colleague Adam Forrest has more details on Gavin Barwell’s comments this morning.Theresa May’s former chief of staff suggested there is “not a chance in hell” that Boris Johnson will step down of his own accord, as he argued there was a “strong case for change” at the top of government.Andy Gregory6 February 2022 12:331644149696Boris Johnson’s changes at No 10 ‘must be an absolute nightmare’, former civil servant saysJill Rutter, a senior research fellow at the UK in a Changing Europe think-tank, has suggested that Boris Johnson’s modifications to his No 10 operation “must be an absolute nightmare for people who have to make the new moves work inside government”.“Sue Gray told [Mr Johnson] that confused accountabilities was the big problem in No.10 – hard to see how these moves make them clearer and a big risk they make them much, much worse,” the former civil servant said.Laying out a number of complexities arising from the appointment of Steve Barclay as his new chief of staff, Ms Rutter said: “We have to assume PM had though through all these questions before he decided that this was the structure he wanted.”Andy Gregory6 February 2022 12:141644147948Tory Party must give Boris Johnson ‘time and space to lead’, minister saysHighlighting the majority secured by Boris Johnson at the 2019 election, the business secretary has told Times Radio: “It’s the job of Cabinet ministers and the parliamentary party to give him time and space to lead.”Asked if he would offer support to a colleague who was on leadership manoeuvres, Kwasi Kwarteng said: “I’d say we should be backing the prime minister to deliver on our manifesto, which we were all elected on.”Mr Kwarteng said nobody knows how many letters of no confidence have been submitted, adding: “My own view is that we’re probably not that near the letters [threshold] but I don’t know – until we reach that point I think it’s idle speculation.”Members of the PM’s shadow whipping operation believe that at least 35 letters have already been submitted to the 1922 Committee chair Sir Graham Brady, according to the Sunday Times – as the PM enters the “danger zone” close to the 54 letters required to trigger a vote.But the PM’s allies are said to suspect the number is likely closer to 45, while some MPs reportedly believe the figure could already be more than 50.Andy Gregory6 February 2022 11:451644146467Here was the moment business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng sought to defend Boris Johnson’s Jimmy Savile jibe against Sir Keir Starmer as “perfectly reasonable”.Boris Johnson’s Savile remarks ‘perfectly reasonable’, says business ministerAndy Gregory6 February 2022 11:21 More

The UK needs to shift to renewables to protect itself from energy crises such as the current one, politicians and experts have said.The country has been urged to move to this “incredibly cheap” and green source of energy as household bills are set to rocket yet again.The current energy crisis behind the rising cost of living has been sparked by surging gas prices, shining a light on the UK’s reliance on this fossil fuel. MPs and experts have said renewables are the answer to making the UK less vulnerable to this volatile market.Adam Corlett, the principal economist at the Resolution Foundation think-tank, told The Independent the current energy crisis “puts up in lights both our over-reliance on fossil fuels, and how we should have done more to ensure that everyone’s home is well-insulated”.He said: “Britain’s energy bills crisis is far from over – and should serve as a warning to quicken our transition towards a net zero economy”.A further increase to the energy price cap was confirmed on Thursday, paving the way for millions to see household bills rise by more than 50 per cent. Following this, Sam Hall, the chair of the  Conservative Environment Network, said: “We’ll be exposed to similar crises for as long as we are so reliant on gas”.He added: “The government must now deliver its net zero strategy to make UK households less exposed to global gas markets.”A Telegraph report has suggested that Cabinet ministers are questioning whether the move to net zero emissions – which the government has committed to by 2050 – was the right thing to do amid the energy crisis and soaring bills.But Ed Miliband, the shadow climate change and net zero secretary, told The Independent a “failure to transition to zero carbon” has made the UK “more vulnerable as a country”. “Climate delay will make us more dependent on fossil fuels, leaving us more exposed to unstable global gas prices, meaning higher bills, and undermining our energy security,” he said. Jamie Peters from environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth told The Independent: “Renewable energy is incredibly cheap and there’s an abundance of it at our fingertips. Knowing this, every effort should be made to increase our supply, and attempts to discredit the net zero agenda shouldn’t be taken seriously.”On the same day the UK’s energy price cap increased, Rishi Sunak said he wanted to encourage more investment in oil and gas drilling in the North Sea. But Green Party MP Caroline Lucas said the UK would not emerge from the energy crisis through a “rapid U-turn to the fossil fuel era”. Writing inThe Independent, she said the solution was through “rapidly speeding up the transition to energy efficiency and renewables so we address the climate emergency and make ourselves less vulnerable to global price rises”. Greg Hands, the energy minister, also said the UK needs to generate “more clean, secure and affordable power” in order to protect itself from volatile gas prices, as he “debunked” some “myths” around energy. Experts have previously told The Independent the current energy crisis has been fuelled by the government dragging its feel on renewable energy – which faced a blow when a previous Tory government removed subsidies for onshore wind farms for several years. A Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy spokesperson said: “Since 2010 we have delivered a 500 per cent increase in the amount of renewable energy capacity connected to the grid – more than any other government in British history.“We remain committed to go even further and faster to build a homegrown renewables sector and reduce our reliance on volatile fossil fuels, and just last month we launched the biggest renewable energy auction to accelerate deployment.” More

After Sajjad Karim first raised an allegation of Islamophobia against a serving minister he says he was told by Tory HQ that he would be contacted by the party inquiry to share his evidence. More than two years later, he is still waiting for a call.The former ConservativeMEP – who spent 15 years in Brussels representing north-west England – spoke out in September 2019 amid a series of Islamophobia claims piling up against the party.The 51-year-old recalled overhearing a conversation between two Conservative Parliamentarians with Islamophobic content directly about him. “I was able to hear these conversations directly with not just an Islamophobic base, but a very clear expression of very prejudiced views and positions which were clearly Islamophobic,” he told the BBC.Today, as he calls for the Conservative party to finally investigate his allegation, Karim has given The Independent his fullest account to date of the alleged 2013 incident. Though he is not publicly identifying the individuals – one of whom he says went on to become a minister and is presently serving in government – he has confirmed he will name names to an investigation.It comes in the wake of a separate claim last month by Tory MP Nusrat Ghani that her Muslim faith was given as a reason for her being sacked as a minister, prompting Boris Johnson to order a Cabinet Office inquiry.Referencing the alleged 2013 incident, Karim – the first British Muslim elected to the European Parliament – said: “It was entirely a political exercise to try and undermine me, to use my religion as a means to undermine me.” He added: “I don’t know Nus Ghani’s case, or situation… all I know is in my case the discussion was about how my religious and cultural background could be engineered politically and used against me.”As Karim pointed out, anyone “fair-minded” ought to be “horrified”. And yet, to this day, there has been no investigation by the party. Though he was contacted by the chairman’s office following the BBC interview, he says he was refused a meeting with the then chairman, James Cleverly.“I was… contacted by the chairman’s office and told that there is a central address to which I could… make a report of Islamophobia on,” he said. “A complaint, a complaints email address which would go to central office and a staffer would pick it up and deal with it.“I made it clear that, actually, that is not an appropriate way because my complaint is one in relation to two very senior members of the Conservative Parliamentary party and this was not an appropriate format either for me or for them, or for the party for that matter, for this to be dealt with. But a more appropriate way would be for the chairman to see me, and I’d be happy to come down to London face-to-face – James Cleverly was the chairman at the time – and that I would provide him with all of the details of my complaint and this needs to be led by him at a senior level because of the very of nature of the allegations and the people involved. This is not appropriate for a junior member of staff to be dealing with.”However, he says, he was told Cleverly was too busy and that he should use the normal process. “I responded, and said, no I’m not going to use the standard process, this is not appropriate. And then I was emailed back saying that, actually, the… inquiry was going to be taking place… and that the inquiry would contact me and that I should give my evidence to the… inquiry and I said, fine.”When the call never came and the inquiry published its findings more than a year and a half later without his input, Karim labelled the report a “whitewash”. The “independent investigation into alleged discrimination” in the Tory party, chaired by Professor Sarwan Singh, said allegations of institutional islamophobia “were not borne out by the evidence available to the Investigation”. However, the report stated “anti-Muslim sentiment remains a problem within the Party”. Boris Johnson’s comments comparing women wearing the burqa to letterboxes were also criticised and the May 2021 report found evidence that the party’s complaints system was in need of an overhaul.Singh’s report noted that the Conservative party’s central database recorded 1,418 complaints between 2015 to 2020 concerning 727 incidents of alleged discrimination. Two-thirds of all incidents related to claims of anti-Muslim discrimination.The report concluded: “We discovered some examples of discrimination and anti-Muslim sentiment, most of which were at local association level. We did not, however, find evidence of a Party which systematically discriminated against any particular group…”Does Karim think that the Conservative party is institutionally Islamophobic? He pauses, before replying:  “I don’t think it is but I think what is happening is there are a small minority of people who either are or who are willing to use Islamophobia as a political tool even though they might not necessarily ascribe to those views. And the prime minister himself has actually been accused of that. But the overall workings of the party in the political context that we are currently in means that those people feel emboldened enough to be able to do these things in the belief that they’ll get away with it.”He added: “Now, that’s very different to being institutionally Islamophobic or anti-Semitic, or racist. This is opportunism at play in a context that allows them to get away with it.”Karim’s parents moved to Britain from Pakistan in the mid-1960s. His father worked for the Muslim Commercial Bank, first as a clerk before rising to become a manager; his mother a housewife. One of six children, Karim grew up in Brierfield, Lancashire. Though he handed out leaflets for the Conservatives as a seven-year-old, he stopped supporting the Tories after arriving in London to study in 1989 and realising, in his words, “we’ve been done over” when he compared what he saw in the capital to the economically depressed situation in the community at home. He later joined the Liberal Democrats. More

Sir Iain Duncan Smith has warned cabinet ministers and others planning to challenge Boris Johnson to “temper” their ambition, as the former Conservative leader backed the prime minister to sort out the Partygate scandal.The senior Tory figure appeared to aim his message at chancellor Rishi Sunak, whose team is reportedly planning for a leadership contest in the months ahead.“If there are certain individuals who think they have a right to have a claim on that title of prime minister, well, fine – ambition is a thing which exists in all of us,” Sir Iain told the BBC on Sunday.Sir Iain added: “But it’s ambition at the right time. And I would say to people, temper your ambition.”Cabinet ministers appear to be squabbling over loyalty to the prime minister after Mr Sunak and health secretary Sajid Javid distanced themselves from his Jimmy Savile smear.One cabinet member called for Mr Johnson to sack Mr Sunak, according to The Times, which also reported that two other ministers have accused him of being “on manoeuvres” for party leadership.Senior backbencher Tom Tugendhat, chair of the foreign affairs select committee, has already revealed he will “go for it” if Mr Johnson is forced out of No 10.Sir Iain was scathing about government parties during the Covid pandemic – but warned against “internecine warfare” in the party at a time the public wanted ministers to get on top of the cost of living crisis.The former leader said Mr Johnson’s scandal “damages the reputation” of the Conservatives and said the electorate’s trust had been lost – saying the PM bears the “overall responsibility” for mistakes.Asked if the Tories could recover with Johnson at No 10? “None of us know the answer. When you lose [trust] it’s a very difficult task to get it back across the board.”But the former leader said Mr Johnson should remain in place to try to “sort” out the mess. “He was the man who oversaw what was wrong.”Asked if thought Mr Johnson would lead the party into the next general election, he said: “I do at the moment. The prime minister is the one who has to sort this out. The public will expect that of him.”He added: “I am not particularly in favour of plunging us into the mess of votes of no-confidence followed by leadership elections.”Members of the prime minister’s shadow whipping operation believe that at least 35 letters have already been submitted to the chair of the Conservatives’ 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady, according to the Sunday Times.It comes as senior Tory MP Sir Charles Walker – previously one of Mr Johnson’s most loyal supporters – said it was now “inevitable” that he would be ousted over Downing Street parties.Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said on Sunday it was not at all inevitable that Boris Johnson would have to stand down, saying “I don’t see what he’s seeing” about Sir Charles’ remarks.Mr Kwarteng dismissed talk of dozens of submitted no-confidence letters as “feverish speculation” and denied the prime minister had lost the confidence of the party.“I don’t think so at all,” he told the BBC. “A few people have said they are not happy, they’ve expressed their views publicly.”The cabinet minister also defended Mr Johnson over his Jimmy Savile smear against Sir Keir Starmer, saying it was “perfectly reasonable” for the PM to have claimed the Labour leader had failed to prosecute Savile as part of the “cut and thrust” of debate.Tory peer Lord Gavin Barwell said he disagreed with Mr Kwarteng’s assertion, telling Sky’s Trevor Phillips On Sunday the untrue allegation made in parliament “a stupid thing” for Mr Johnson to have done.Lord Barwell said there was a “strong case for change” when asked if Mr Johnson should resign – but he added that he does not think there is “a chance in hell” that the PM will voluntarily step down. More

Downing Street is bracing itself for a no-confidence vote in Boris Johnson’s leadership soon, as his team fight to save his premiership over the Partygate scandal.Members of the prime minister’s shadow whipping operation believe that at least 35 letters have already been submitted to the chair of the Conservatives’ 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady, according to the Sunday Times.Allies trying to save Mr Johnson are said to suspect the number could be as high as 45, as the prime minister enters the “danger zone” close to the 54 letters required to trigger a vote.It comes as senior Tory MP Sir Charles Walker – previously one of Mr Johnson’s most loyal supporters – said it was now “inevitable” that he would be ousted over Downing Street parties.Urging him to go before he is pushed, Sir Charles told The Observer: “It is an inevitable tragedy. It is going to end in him going, so I just want him to have some agency in that. It is just not going to get better.”Tory party rules mean that a majority of the party’s MPs – 180 of them – would have to vote against Mr Johnson in a confidence challenge in order to spark a contest to find his replacement. If the prime minister survives, he is protected from facing another vote for a year.Tories now keen to see an end to Mr Johnson’s premiership include some red wall MPs from the 2019 intake, some former ministers, the One Nation caucus of MPs opposed to Brexit, and some Brexiteers who have lost faith in his leadership.Some Tory rebels fear a confidence vote in Mr Johnson could be triggered “accidentally” as anger over Partygate builds, coming too quickly to oust the prime minister – telling The Independent it would be better to wait until the Metropolitan Police investigation concludes.Some opposed to Mr Johnson are steeling themselves for the strong possibility that he will win a confidence vote if one is held soon, but still think the process would be worthwhile.If anything close to 180 MPs were to vote against his leadership, it would leave Mr Johnson badly damaged, and it would be far more likely that he would be urged to quit by his cabinet colleagues.“It’s just a matter of time – different ships move at different speeds,” one former cabinet minister told The Independent in regard to the end of Mr Johnson’s time at No 10.However, Mr Johnson’s allies say he is determined to stay in No 10, even if the pressure builds. “He’s making very clear that they’ll have to send a Panzer division to get him out of there,” one adviser told the Sunday Times.Mr Johnson attempted to convince doubtful MPs that a major shake-up would “strengthen” operations at No 10, as he announced the appointments of Cabinet Office minister Steve Barclay as his new chief of staff and former City Hall spin doctor Guto Harri as new director of communications.David Canzini, another protege of strategist Sir Lynton Crosby, is reportedly set to join No 10 as an aide in charge of liaising with MPs in the coming days, and the PM is said to be considering replacing Mark Spencer as chief whip. More

A Tory MP was “so p****d” following an afternoon watching sport he “couldn’t remember what was said” when Boris Johnson called him on the phone, according to his wife.Felicity Cornelius-Mercer shared a photo on social media on Saturday of her husband, Plymouth Moor View MP Johnny Mercer, sitting on a sofa with his head thrown back, apparently in a deep sleep.She said the prime minister had called Mr Mercer after he had spent the day following his local side Plymouth Argyle’s narrow defeat to Premier League side Chelsea and England’s rugby team loss to Scotland in the Six Nations.“So..funny story…the Prime Minister rang tonight directly after an afternoon of FA Cup football and England rugby..and @JohnnyMercerUK was so p****d he can’t remember what was said,” Ms Cornelius-Mercer wrote.She joked that she was thinking of “winding him up” the next day, and asked her Twitter followers for suggestions of what to tell him he had discussed with the PM.Some people suggested that she should tell her husband he had agreed to do an early-morning round of media interviews.Tell him he agreed to do the media round tomorrrow— Martin🇪🇺 (@mb230616) February 5, 2022 Others suggested she say that Mr Johnson offered him a new job, whether in Downing Street or his Cabinet.He starts his new job in No 10 tomorrow.— Nicholas Jackson EU citizen 🔶⬛ (@npjackson123) February 5, 2022 Tell him he accepted the position of temporary Chief of Staff and he’s got to meet Nadine Dorries at a Toby Carvery for lunch to ask her nicely not to do any more media appearances.— Ali Hughes (@AliAliAfro) February 5, 2022 Earlier in the evening, Mr Mercer quote-tweeted Plymouth Argyle’s tweet about the match and wrote: “Heartbreak. So proud – of fans and team.”A number of crises have embroiled the prime minister recently, but Mr Mercer has not said whether he would submit a letter of no confidence in Mr Johnson or not, according to PlymouthLive.When asked by the local news outlet if he had plans to submit a letter of no confidence, Mr Mercer said he would not comment– and when asked why he would not comment, he replied: “Ha Ha.” More

Conservative Party rebels fear a confidence vote in Boris Johnson could be triggered “accidentally” as anger over Partygate builds, coming too quickly to oust the prime minister and leaving him in power for another 12 months.Several Tory MPs opposed to Mr Johnson told The Independent they were worried that he would still have enough support to win a vote of confidence if the number of no-confidence letters sent to the 1922 Committee chair Sir Graham Brady reached the threshold of 54 in the days ahead.Some backbenchers are urging colleagues to be “patient” with letters, and to wait until the Metropolitan Police investigation concludes and the full Sue Gray report is revealed – predicting that to be the moment at which many wavering MPs will turn against him.It comes as Mr Johnson attempted to convince doubtful MPs that a major shake-up would “strengthen” operations at No 10, as he announced the appointments of Cabinet Office minister Steve Barclay as his new chief of staff and former City Hall spin doctor Guto Harri as new director of communications.Culture secretary Nadine Dorries said only a “handful” of anti-Brexit Tories were plotting against Mr Johnson, claiming on Saturday that “around 97 per cent” of MPs were still behind the PM.But senior backbencher Stephen Hammond dismissed Ms Dorries’ claims as “predictable rubbish”, and suggested that a large number of MPs from all sides of the party were considering submitting letters of no confidence.Asked whether it was now “the beginning of the end” for Mr Johnson, the former minister and Remain campaigner said: “It certainly looks like that at the moment.”Tory party rules mean that a majority of the party’s MPs – 180 of them – would have to vote against Mr Johnson in a confidence challenge in order to spark a contest to find his replacement. If the prime minister survives, he is protected from facing another vote for a year.One senior Tory figure opposed to Mr Johnson’s continued leadership told The Independent: “A quick reaching of 54 letters might allow him to survive the no-confidence vote. But the longer it goes on, the number of people against him will grow.”One backbench MP, who is ready to submit a letter once the Gray report is released, said: “Some have obviously lost their patience and are doing it now. But without seeing Sue Gray’s full conclusions I don’t think you get to 180 MPs – he would almost certainly win. It would be better to be patient.”Another Tory backbencher said they thought it would be better to wait for the updated report before sending a letter to the 1922 Committee chair – saying more MPs would “go for it” when the full details of Partygate were revealed.Tories now keen to see an end to Mr Johnson’s premiership include some red wall MPs from the 2019 intake, some former ministers, the One Nation caucus of MPs opposed to Brexit, and some Brexiteers who have lost faith in his leadership.Conservative MPs from across the spectrum told The Independent that there was no clear plan to get rid of Mr Johnson, and that the submission of no-confidence letters was not being coordinated.“There’s a possibility of reaching 54 accidentally because there’s no organising between factions at the moment,” said a senior backbencher.Nick Gibb and Aaron Bell are the latest Tory MPs to reveal they have submitted no-confidence letters, among 14 who have explicitly called for Mr Johnson to quit.Mr Hammond said on Radio 4’s The Week at Westminster that he was thinking “very carefully” about joining the letter-writers, adding: “I think all Conservative colleagues … will be wrestling with their conscience this weekend.”The former transport minister said that many wavering MPs would make their minds up based on what Mr Johnson had “explained so far” on No 10 parties, as well as “looking at knowledge of his personality”. But Mr Hammond also said that a no-confidence vote should not be “rushed”.However, some Tory rebels are keen for colleagues angry about Partygate to make up their minds on Mr Johnson’s leadership and submit letters as soon as possible.Scotland Yard has pledged to carry out its investigation into parties “promptly”, but there are fears it could still take months before the investigation is announced and that momentum against Mr Johnson could slow.Veteran backbencher Sir Roger Gale, who declared in December that he had submitted his no-confidence letter, told The Independent: “We need to get on with it. We can’t control the timing of Sue Gray or the police, and we can’t go on like this. So we have to deal with it now.”Some opposed to Mr Johnson are steeling themselves for the strong possibility that he will win a confidence vote if one is held soon, but still think the process would be worthwhile.If anything close to 180 MPs were to vote against his leadership, it would leave Mr Johnson badly damaged, and it would be far more likely that he would be urged to quit by his cabinet colleagues.“It’s just a matter of time – different ships move at different speeds,” one former cabinet minister told The Independent in regard to the end of Mr Johnson’s time at No 10.Mr Johnson’s cabinet appears to have descended into squabbling over the question of loyalty to the prime minister after both the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, and the health secretary, Sajid Javid, distanced themselves from his Savile slur against Sir Keir Starmer.One cabinet member thinks Mr Johnson should sack Mr Sunak, according to The Times, and two other ministers are said to have accused the chancellor of being “on manoeuvres” for the leadership.Mr Sunak’s team is understood to have built a draft version of a leadership campaign website, as The Independent reported last week. But there is no indication that he is ready to move against Mr Johnson.The prime minister has attempted to placate angry Tory backbenchers with a shake-up at Downing Street along with a promise to give them a greater role in policy-making with a “direct line” to No 10.But Tory rebels do not think the moves will convince many wavering MPs. “No 10 appears to be in meltdown,” said Sir Roger. “It may be presented as a shake-up. If replacements had been announced in an orderly fashion it might have been convincing. But it wasn’t orderly. It was a shambles.” More