The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Bruised Johnson vows to ‘get on with the job’
Boris Johnson promised new measures to boost home ownership and defended his record in office as he faced MPs for the first time since being wounded by a revolt by Tories against his leadership.
The prime minister insisted he is getting on with the job despite 148 of his own MPs saying they have no confidence in him.
Mr Johnson said the government will be “expanding home ownership for millions of people” and “cutting the costs of business”.
The prime minister is expected to use a speech this week to set out housing plans, with speculation that the Right to Buy could be extended for housing association residents and a wave of modular homes could also be built.
The move will form part of a plan by Mr Johnson to reassert his authority after surviving Monday’s confidence vote despite the revolt by 41% of his MPs.
Mr Johnson said his administration will create “high-wage, high-skilled jobs” for the country.
“And as for jobs, I’m going to get on with mine,” he told the Commons in a rowdy session of Prime Minister’s Questions.
Mr Johnson was greeted with cheers by supporters, but, in the first question, Labour’s Dame Angela Eagle said he is “loathed” and asked him to explain “if 148 of his own backbenchers don’t trust him, why on earth should the country?”
Mr Johnson replied that he had “picked up political opponents all over” because “this government has done some very big and very remarkable things which they didn’t necessarily approve of ”.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer focused on the NHS during his exchanges with Mr Johnson, seizing on the blue-on-blue spat between Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries and senior Tory Jeremy Hunt during Monday’s confidence vote.
Ms Dorries, a Johnson loyalist, claimed Mr Hunt, a critic of the prime minister, had left the country “wanting and unprepared” for the Covid19 pandemic during his tenure as health secretary.
Sir Keir also quoted from former minister Jesse Norman’s no-confidence letter to Mr Johnson in which he said the government “seems to lack a sense of mission”.
In a raucous Commons chamber, Sir Keir told Mr Johnson: “Pretending no rules were broken didn’t work. Pretending the economy is booming didn’t work. And pretending to build 40 new hospitals won’t work either.”
The prime minister said: “We are making colossal investments in our NHS, we are cutting waiting times, we are raising standards, we are paying nurses more.”
He highlighted the “strength of the UK economy” and the “fiscal firepower” that enabled the money to be spent.
“We have the lowest unemployment now since 1974 and we are going to continue to grow our economy for the long term.”
His comments came on the day the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development slashed its UK growth forecast for this year from 4.75% to 3.64%, with inflation expected to peak at more than 10%.
But Mr Johnson defended his mission to “unite and level up” and “unleash the potential of our entire country”.
The range of issues that have caused discontent in the Tory ranks means there is no single response the prime minister can make to win over doubters.
While it was the Sue Gray report into lockdown parties in Downing Street that prompted the confidence vote, it also revealed deep unhappiness among MPs on different wings of the party across a range of issues.
In an attempt to win over his critics, Mr Johnson has pledged further tax cuts and is under pressure from MPs and ministers to show how he can ease the burden on households and businesses.