Boris proves headache for Tory party

LAST week was extremely bad for Boris. Not only did his party suffer a shattering defeat in the North Shropshire by-election, but there was continuous clamouring about illegal parties during lockdowns, plus a rebellion.

Then came severe criticism of the advice which he was giving on Christmas gatherings, which seemed to conflict with that given by Professor Chris Whitty. To cap it all came the resignation of Brexit Minister, Lord David Frost.

The by-election, with a 34.2% swing to the Lib Dems being the largest since Eric Lubbock won Orpington for them in 1962, revealed considerable dissatisfaction with the Government, which if not speedily corrected, will result in total disaster at the next General Election.

Government has consistently stated it will follow the science, yet when Prof Chris Whitty advised contact should be kept to the absolute minimum, Boris stated it was OK to go ahead with Christmas parties provided spacing and care was observed.

It is such mixed messages, coupled with Covid rules ignored by some politicians, that has upset the electorate.

In addition, the ever-mounting number of U-turns, plus broken election promises have not improved the reputation of this Tory government.

The triple lock for pensioners has been broken at a time when inflation is shooting up, currently 5.1%, yet pensioners will only get an increase 3.2% or thereabouts next April. This is patently unfair, and there are a lot of pensioners living in North Shropshire!

I am sure that over Christmas, the men in grey suits will be applying their minds to the problem of Boris.

Yes, he is governing at a very difficult time when major decisions have had to be taken, but his method, manner of delivery and content is not endearing him to voters.

On present form, he is not the person to lead the Tories into the next General Election.

However, those who run the Conservative Party have got a problem for there is no obvious successor waiting to leap on stage. At the moment, Boris is an electoral lability, and one that must be rapidly reformed or replaced.

Russell Luckock is chairman of Birmingham pressings firm

AE Harris