Friend and foe united in anger over PM’S tiers
From Ashford to Altrincham, rebellion against Boris Johnson’s Covid restrictions is winning supporters across the Tory party in run-up to crunch vote
NOT since the ink dried on Theresa May’s Chequers deal has a government policy managed to unite Tories in quite such anguished opposition.
As England’s new Covid tier system teetered on the brink of sending 23 million people into the highest level, MPS from the Tory shires to the former Red Wall appeared dangerously close to the edge yesterday.
Angrier than the newly drawn redsplattered map of England from Dec 2, MPS started to question why such a “blanket” approach had been taken, with 34 million moved into a tougher tier than before the second lockdown.
Within 24 hours of Boris Johnson reassuring the nation that he shared their “heartache and frustration”, almost 60 MPS had openly criticised the plan, raising the prospect of a rebellion when the new measures would be put to a Commons vote on Tuesday.
But perhaps more important than the size of the revolt was the character of it.
As more Conservatives joined the chorus of disapproval, it became apparent this was more far-reaching than your average “awkward squad” blue-onblue insurgency. Tories from Ashford to Altrincham were rocking the boat – a mutiny on the county, if you will.
Some of the 2019 “newbies” even joined in, including Siobhan Baillie (Stroud), Duncan Baker (North Norfolk), Ben Spencer (Runnymede and Weybridge) and even “Workington man” Mark Jenkinson. Greg Smith (Buckingham) was “furious” with the lack of consultation; and Matt Vickers (Stockton South), who has supported a “Back Britain’s Boozers” campaign, was “bitterly disappointed”.
Worryingly for the Prime Minister, even his own cheerleaders were on the warpath, with Conor Burns (Bournemouth West) unable to “see any justification” for his town not being in Tier 1. Even fellow loyalists Johnny Mercer, Tim Loughton and Philip Davies, simply declared: “I’m not voting for this rubbish”.
This was an issue uniting both friend and foe, with Tom Tugendhat, the MP for Tonbrige and Malling in Kent – which went from Tier 1 to 3 – decrying the lack of “granular detail”.
Former ministers who joined the fray included Greg Clark, Esther Mcvey, Damian Green, Steve Brine, John Penrose and Liam Fox. Tobias Ellwood, MP for Bournemouth East, said he was “sure [Labour] will consider” supporting the Tory rebellion next week, adding that he would “probably abstain”.
Sir Keir Starmer has still not revealed Labour’s hand, although the party is guaranteed to ask for more funding for local authorities in Tier 3 in return for their support.
Yet, as one senior Tory source pointed out: “No government with any sense passes legislation on opposition votes – it’s a bad thing to do.”
Even those still on the Government payroll such as Nadhim Zahawi and Jesse Norman refused to keep schtum, the latter voicing his “longing for a return to the usual freedoms” in Herefordshire.
Summing up the mood, Steve Baker, MP for Wycombe and unofficial “whip” for the Covid Research Group of Tory lockdown sceptics, said: “There’s a general argument with MPS across the country not only that they have come out into a worse tier but that the tiers are not targeted enough.”
He hinted that the CRG had got “bigger” since Thursday but refused to confirm numbers, although Mr Green, the former deputy prime minister, told The Daily Telegraph he was among the new recruits. It is thought membership stands at 70.
Mr Baker said: “People have this horror that they are being kept in the same tier for weeks. If you are a single person in their 20s or 30s living at home alone, not able to go to the pub for a drink, it’s an extremely high price to pay to be in these tiers.”
Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) fears hospitality venues in his rural constituency may pay with their j obs after being lumped in Tier 3 because of Leicester’s persistently high infection rates, even when cases are low locally. He has been lobbying the Health Secretary to “decouple” Covid free zones within tiers – although it is thought the Government wants to avoid this for fear of people flocking into neighbouring areas.
He said: “There’s no hope for my constituents. Even if we get our rate down to nothing we’ll still be tied to Leicester. Let those who have tiers shed them.”
Yet with MPS becoming increasingly sceptical about the effectiveness of both mass testing and track and trace, few believe they will be able to move tier by the time they are reviewed on Dec 16.
As Mark Harper, the CRG chairman, put it: “Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer, said Tier 2 would only hold infections level, and Tier 1 would see them go up. That rather suggests if you’re in Tier 2, it is your destiny at least until the spring.”
Another senior Tory had even less faith in Operation Moonshot, Mr Johnson’s quest to roll out lateral flow tests to millions in Tier 3 with the help of the Army: “People seem to be parroting the Government line that mass testing brought Liverpool’s cases down. They were massively dropping before mass testing happened. It’s bull----.”
He added: “Without either [mass testing or test, track and trace] working properly, no one is going to be able to move tiers.”
Robert Jenrick, the Communities Secretary, hardly helped to quell doubts when he said yesterday: “What we don’t want to do is ease up too quickly and then find that in January we are having to put tiers back in place again.”
Although the scale of the rebellion remains to be seen, one Tory insider was far from hopeful: “It’s quite serious – MPS will think they’ve got nothing to lose over this. At the very least they’ll be able to tell their voters that they didn’t support a widely unpopular policy.”