10 rebels back in fold boost Tory ranks for election

Reconciliation with those who defied him is key part of Prime Minister’s preparations to secure a clear majority and enable him to ‘get Brexit done’

BORIS JOHNSON has restored the party whip to 10 rebels and boosted the number of Conservative MPS ahead of the General Election.

The Prime Minister met the MPS in his Commons office and told them they would be brought back into the fold after two months in political exile.

They include former Cabinet ministers Ed Vaizey, Greg Clark, Caroline Nokes and Alistair Burt, who voted in support of legislation which forced Mr Johnson to delay Brexit.

But there was no reprieve for more determined rebels such as Philip Hammond and Dominic Grieve.

A Conservative source said there could “still be a way back” for some of the remaining 11 rebels. But some, including Ken Clarke and Rory Stewart, have said they will stand down at the election. Sam Gyimah went further by defecting to the Liberal Democrats.

Margot James, the former digital minister, was among the 10 MPS readmitted into the party, despite last month saying it would be “a bad thing for the country” if the party won a majority in the next election.

Former ministers Richard Benyon, Stephen Hammond, Steve Brine and Richard Harrington have also had the whip restored.

However Mr Clarke and David Gauke, the former justice secretary, have not.

Amber Rudd, who resigned from the Government in protest at the way the 21 rebels were treated and gave up the party whip herself, has also not been readmitted.

A Conservative spokesman said the 10 MPS have “had the whip offered back to them, they have accepted the whip: they are Conservative Members of Parliament with the Tory whip.”

The readmitted MPS last night helped the Prime Minister defeat Opposition attempts to change the election date from Dec 12 to Dec 9. Allowing

‘They have accepted the whip: they are Conservative Members of Parliament with the Tory whip’

‘What happened last time didn’t work – so we are not doing that again’

Labour will be determined to shift the conversation on to other topics, such as public services

several rebels to stand again as Tory candidates suggests that Mr Johnson knows their re-election will play a key part in his efforts to secure a clear Conservative majority at the election.

The key figures at the heart of the campaign are proteges of Sir Lynton Crosby, the Australian election veteran who masterminded Mr Johnson’s election and re-election bids as London mayor.

Isaac Levido has been working since August at Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) as director of politics and campaigning to prepare its campaign operation.

New Zealanders Sean Topham and Ben Guerin have been hired to lead the party’s online efforts.

They have the blessing of Dominic Cummings, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, to oversee the party’s campaign machine.

Mr Cummings has previously indicated that he will need to undergo an operation in early November, postponed from July in order to allow him to join Mr Johnson in Downing Street. “Who knows if I’ll be back,” he told special advisers in August – although few expect Mr Cummings to fade away entirely.

Sir Lynton swears by a “golden rule” that you should not get involved in an election campaign unless you have total control.

So his proteges undoubtedly do not expect to see back seat driving from Mr Cummings.

But they can expect support from Mr Johnson’s No 10 aides in what one source described as a “merging” of Downing Street and CCHQ personnel for the campaign.

Other senior figures who will hold sway over how the election is fought include the two Tory party chairmen, James Cleverly MP and Ben Elliot, both of whom supported Mr Johnson in the Vote Leave campaign and have been working to build up a war chest.

Mr Elliot, appointed by Michael

Gove in January as the Government’s food waste tsar, suggested that he had been appointed because “I’m an irritating f---er. I will go after people and hold them to account.

“Most of the people that I work with find me pedantic and irritating to say the least.”

Party chiefs have learned the lessons of the 2017 campaign, which was derailed at the launch of Theresa May’s manifesto, written secretly by two of her advisers, due to its controversial policy on social care.

“What happened last time didn’t work – so we’re not doing that again,” a senior Tory source said.

“We will be taking ideas from across Government and making sure there is a structure in place where we have people collecting those ideas.”

Ministers have been feeding manifesto ideas into No10’s head of policy Munira Mirza and Rachel Wolf, a fellow adviser at Downing Street.

A Cabinet committee of eight ministers has been meeting to discuss preparations for the next election. Internal Tory polling shown to ministers has reportedly showed that the party is “streets ahead” of Labour on law and order.

Polling presented to the Cabinet has also suggested the Tories had pulled narrowly ahead of Labour on the NHS after pledges to build hospitals and boost investment.

Mr Johnson told activists at party conference this month the manifesto would be a “short, concise outline with no hostages to fortune” – a clear dig at his predecessor.

Brexit will be top of Mr Johnson’s agenda. The deal he has negotiated with the European Union will form the basis of his pitch to “get Brexit done”, as he made clear to MPS this week.

However, Labour will be determined to shift the conversation on to other topics, such as the state of public services. A leaked copy of Labour’s draft election grid – summarising the list of themes it intends to emphasise on the campaign trail – refers to Brexit just twice and crime once.

The Queen’s Speech this month laid out the Government’s Brexit agenda and domestic priorities and will likely provide a preview of what to expect.

The Prime Minister can be expected to build on his much-repeated funding commitments, namely to boost school spending by £14 billion and recruit 20,000 new police officers, as well as Vote Leave’s flagship promise to boost NHS funding by £350million a week.

“Your priorities are my priorities,” reads a message from Mr Johnson echoed by local parliamentary candidates across the country in their pitches on the doorstep: “The NHS, schools, tackling crime and a strong economy.”

The Prime Minister will hope his policies for such areas, bringing Tory rebels back into the fold and his crack Conservative campaign team will give him a clear majority at the next election to finally get Brexit done.