Johnson faces unrest over Labour surge
Boris Johnson is facing criticism from some Conservative MPS following a series of U-turns over recent months.
The handling of the coronavirus crisis has provoked public concern from some Tory MPS as new polls have put Labour at level pegging with the Conservatives for the first time since July 2019.
Boris Johnson is facing criticism from some Conservative MPS following a series of U-turns over recent months.
With parliament set to return tomorrow, the mood on Tory benches will not be helped by a poll by Opinium putting Labour at level pegging with the Conservatives for the first time since July 2019.
Sir Charles Walker, vicechairman of the 1922 committee of Conservative backbenchers, said it was becoming increasingly difficult for MPS to defend Government action as policies can be abandoned quickly by ministers.
MP Sir Charles, usually seen as a loyalist to the Prime Minister, told the Obser ver: “Too often it looks like this government licks its finger and sticks it in the air to see which way the wind is blowing.
“It is becoming increasingly difficult for backbenchers now to promote and defend government policy as so often that policy is changed or abandoned without notice. Whether this approach is by design or by accident, the climate of uncertainty it creates is unsustainable and erodes morale.”
The han dli ng of t he co ro - navirus crisis – especially the fiasco over exam results – has provoked public concern from some Tor y MPS throughout the summer. A U-turn over whether English secondaryschool pupils should wear masks in some situations also caused disquiet among some backbenchers over how the situation was being handled.
Meanwhile, the SNP’S Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, said Mr Johnson’s pre - miership has been “woefully exposed” by his handling of the coronavirus crisis.
Mr Blackford warned the UK Government’s decision to end the furlough scheme in October was the“heigh to fir responsibility” and would “kick the legs away” from Scotland’s “capacity to recover”.
People, he argued, were contra sting the“very firm” leadership of First Minister Ni cola Sturgeon during the pandemic with Mr Johnson’s “U-turn after U-turn”.
The MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber, said: “The lack of clarity, the shambles of the situation that we had with Dominic Cummings, a Prime Minister that makes U-turn after U-turn and I think rightly people are making a judgment on what they see as the choice of those two futures.”
He added :“I expect and understand that Boris Johnson had a desire to be Prime Minister, but I’ m not convinced that he’s got the character and he has what it takes to be Prime Minister at a time of crisis such as this and I think he’s been woefully exposed.”
There were, he said, “significant challenges” with stop - ping furlough, warning “many businesses are going to see three winters”.
He said: “To see its demise too early when the economy’s not in a position to deal with the adjustments that have to be made is the height of irresponsibility.”
Mr Black ford cautioned against “rep eating the mistakes” of the “massive rise” in unemployment during Margaret Thatcher’s first term in power.
He added: “If we don’t extend the furlough scheme as is required and this has to be
done on a basis of need, then we’re going to put ourselves in a position that we’re going to have a material rise in unemployment that we could have avoided.”
He criticised ministers’ approach to encourage employees back to work, adding: “I think what is not the answer is a government trying to bully people and to see the kind of threats that we’ve had about people losing their jobs... the public recognise that this virus has not gone away, that there is a risk.”
A snapshot survey by Opinium put the Tories and Labour neck and neck on 40 per cent.
The Liberal Democrats, who elected former Cabinet minister Sir Ed Davey as leader last week, stood at 6 per cent in the poll.