Selfish Cabinet ‘propping up lame-horse PM’ say ministers
Junior frontbenchers threaten to resign to force a leadership contest ahead of autumn party conference
THERESA MAY is a “lame horse” Prime Minister propped up by a “selfish” Cabinet, furious junior ministers have said amid threats of resignations.
Some members of the Government are growing increasingly frustrated at Boris Johnson and his Cabinet colleagues for “pushing the Prime Minister around like a rag doll” to serve their own “self-indulgent” ends.
The rift over public sector pay which played out over the weekend served to accelerate talks among junior ministers, who want to see Mrs May stand aside within months to allow the party to rebuild its reputation.
Mid-ranking ministers claim their more senior colleagues are taking advantage of the weakened Prime Minister so they can pursue their own agendas, amid mounting frustration that the Government is “doing nothing” and “going nowhere”.
One minister told The Daily Telegraph they were considering resigning in order to fast-track an inevitable leadership contest to replace Mrs May before the party’s annual conference in October. Others are understood to be considering their options.
One junior minister said the “discontent” has escalated since the row over pay, during which Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Foreign Secretary publicly called for an end to the 1 per cent cap, despite warnings from the Chancellor that such a move would trigger extra taxes.
The source added that the spat, which they believe masks the ambitions of a number of senior Conservatives who want to run for leader themselves, risks “trashing” the Conservative record on the economy which should be “protected at all costs”. Another minister said: “It has become increasingly clear that Nick [Timothy] and Fi [Hill] were running the country and now they are gone we are all kicking around and doing nothing. It’s terrifying.”
They added that “self-indulgent” cabinet colleagues are propping up the Prime Minister to extract their pound of flesh before triggering a contest when they believe they have enough support to win. By that point it could be too late and the Conservatives too damaged to win another election, the source said.
Mr Johnson is said to have lost his shine in recent days after wading into the pay row. A ministerial source who previously backed Mr Johnson for leader said the Foreign Secretary would have to get his act together to secure enough support from colleagues.
Junior ministers are understood to fear the row over whether or not to reverse the 1 per cent pay cap is damaging the party’s reputation for being good at managing the nation’s finances.
On Wednesday, Ken Clarke, the veteran Conservative, told Mrs May that removing the public sector pay cap would be an “economic disaster” and warned it “would set off a wave of pay claims across the entire public sector, which the Opposition are obviously looking forward to taking part in, if they can provoke them”.
A group of ambitious junior ministers are now understood to be working together to push the message that the Tories must take the argument on economics to the Labour Party in order to win over voters.
One member of the Government is said to be hosting like-minded colleagues at his home in the coming weeks, while others have met over dinner to discuss the party’s new direction.
A source said a showdown is expected at the party’s conference. They added: “Selfish cabinet ministers are simply putting their own ambition before the country – it’s self-indulgence and there is going to be backlash.”
‘Selfish Cabinet ministers are simply putting their own ambition before the country. It’s self indulgence’