Deluded Boris: I want to be PM until 2030s
EXCLUSIVE
BY DAN BLOOM in Kigali, Rwanda and NIGEL NELSON Political Editor BRAZEN Boris Johnson is threatening to cling to power for the next TWELVE years.
Brushing off the humiliating by-election thrashings in Devon and Yorkshire, the PM told the Sunday Mirror he is now considering his third term, which could keep him in No10 until 2034.
When asked at the Commonwealth summit in Rwanda if he would serve a full second term if elected, he boasted: “Well look, at the moment I am thinking actively about the third term. But I will review that when I get to it.”
Although Mr Johnson has been PM for less time than Theresa May, who he deposed in 2019, and two in five of his MPs have no faith in him, he reckons he can “go on and on” like Margaret Thatcher.
That is despite a YouGov poll showing the percentage of Brits who think he’s useless soaring from 37% to 69%.
Mr Johnson’s shameless attempt to extend his political lifespan comes after last week’s by-election fiascos forced him to ditch plans for an October General Election.
He may now wait until November 2024 – if he survives that long in office.
Mr Johnson also told how his levelling-up project was “colossal”, and “won’t be easily accomplished”, suggesting it would take more than two terms to fulfil.
Rebel Tory MPs are now plotting to change leadership rules to hold another no-confidence vote in the PM later this year after failing to oust him earlier this month.
Under the present system, a vote cannot be taken until 12 months after the previous one. Nominations
open this week for the Tory backbench 1922 Committee which sets the regulations. MP Andrew Bridgen said: “I’m going to put my hat in the ring. The major question will be rule change.”
But Mr Johnson said: “I love my colleagues but I would urge them respectfully… golden rule of politics, Johnson’s rule number one, the more we talk about Westminster politics, the more irritating it is to voters.
“The lesson I take from the by-elections is people were fed up of hearing about things I had stuffed up or allegedly stuffed up. They wanted me to be getting on with the job and that is what we are going to do.”
The PM also told Radio 4 that he was not going to change. He said: “If you want me to undergo some sort of psychological transformation, that is not going to happen.”
He said the only way he would resign was if his government tried to withdraw support from Ukraine. Some MPs blame the two women who outed tractor porn MP Neil
Parish, which
People are fed up of hearing about things I stuffed up… they want me to do the job BORIS JOHNSON ON WHAT HE THINKS THE PUBLIC WANTS
sparked the disastrous defeat in Tiverton and Honiton.
One said: “I don’t know why the girls had to speak out like that.”
Another added: “They must feel like turds in the swimming pool.”
Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey denied there was an electoral pact between Labour and the Lib Dems to rig the two by-elections in each party’s favour.
He told GB News: “What we saw was people voting tactically.”
Mr Johnson’s plan for an early election was uncovered when Tory chiefs of staff were quietly told to get all their annual leave in by September to be ready to campaign the following month. The PM planned to use his Birmingham party conference in the first week of October as the launchpad for his new bid to woo voters.
He wanted to hold the poll before the Commons Privileges Committee returns its autumn verdict on whether he deliberately lied to Parliament over lockdown parties.
A senior Tory said: “He is sure it will find against him, which would put massive pressure on him to quit.
“But if he won the election, the committee wouldn’t matter. And if he lost, it wouldn’t matter either because he would be gone.”
The scheme relied on the Tories squeaking through in Tiverton and Honiton. So when the Lib Dems overturned a 24,000 majority with a 6,000 majority of their own, the plan had to be abandoned.
At least five leadership challengers have campaign teams ready to go. And Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey is tipped as the next Cabinet minister to quit.
Mr Johnson can only rely on the unquestioning support of Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, Brexit minister Jacob Rees-Mogg and Home Secretary Priti Patel.
One Tory MP said: “We backed Boris because he was a vote winner even though we knew he’d make a lousy leader.
“If he’s now a vote loser, he’s a liability. There are 290 of us with seats less safe than Tiverton.”
Tory grandee Sir Geoffrey CliftonBrown admitted he would be unlikely to hold his Cotswolds seat despite a 20,200 majority.
And former Conservative leader Michael Howard called on Cabinet ministers to rebel against the PM, adding: “The country would be better off under new leadership.”
nigel.nelson@sundaymirror.co.uk