BORIS VOWS TO FIGHT NEXT GENERAL ELECTION ...AND WIN!
BORIS Johnson is convinced he can ride out the political storms and win the next general election if the ‘winds change’ in his favour.
The unshakeable PM – who delivered Brexit but was hit by the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis – believes he is nearly
through the worst that can be thrown at his leadership. Despite two bruising by-election defeats for his party, Mr Johnson was described by a source in No10 as “hungry to deliver for the British people.
“Nothing will stop him in that mission. Yes, there have been mistakes and disappointments, but Boris is exactly the same ambitious leader who won the last general election and absolutely believes he will do so again ... if he gets a fair wind.”
The source declared earlier: “Boris doesn’t do defeatism.”
The Prime Minister yesterday acknowledged the need to “listen and learn” from the voters’ verdict – but sources said he was “going nowhere” and was fully determined to lead a resurgence in the Tories’ fortunes.
His Cabinet was told to focus on fixing the economy, curbing inflation, tackling the housing shortage and modernising transport.
Speaking from the Commonwealth summit in Kigali, Rwanda yesterday Mr Johnson vowed he can turn things around.
He said: “What we’ve got to do is make sure that we continue with the work that we’re doing to help people in the short term with the pressures they’re facing, but also deal with issues in our supply chains, issues in our transport system, in our housing market, in our energy market, reform those things so as to bear down on costs and make things easier for people and make our economy more productive.
“It’s a massive agenda for change. And we’re going to get on with it. We’re going through a tough time right now but we’re going to get through.”
He faces fresh internal attacks on his leadership after the loss of the two Tory seats, made vacant by the resignations of disgraced MPs.
In another blow, Tory party chairman Oliver Dowden quit shortly after the results were announced early yesterday with a thinly-veiled swipe at the PM, saying in a scathing resignation letter: “We cannot carry on with business as usual.”
Tory whips are braced for a bid by rebel MPs to seize control of the powerful 1922 Committee of backbenchers and change rules to force a renewed leadership contest.
They are already planning how to get pro Johnson MPs on to its executive in summer elections. The Prime Minister has a year’s protection from another challenge after he won a confidence vote this month, which saw 41 per cent of Tory MPs oppose him. However those rules, governed by senior figures on the 1922, can be changed. Activists were downcast as the Tories suffered two of the biggest ever by-election swings against a governing party. In Devon, the Lib Dems snatched the previously rocksolid Tory seat of Tiverton and Honiton with a 30 per cent swing. Their candidate Richard Foord was elected with a 6,144vote majority in a seat that the Tories had held in 2019 with a lead of more than 24,000.
In West Yorkshire, Labour’s Simon Lightwood regained the Wakefield seat his party lost to the Tories at the last poll, on a 12 per cent swing and a 4,925 majority. The PM said in Rwanda: “I’m not going to pretend these are brilliant results. We’ve got to listen, we’ve got to learn. When people are finding it tough they send messages to politicians and politicians have got to respond. What people want is a Government that focuses 100 per cent on their concerns, and not on political consequences in Westminster.
“This is a Government that has not only achieved remarkable things, done some very great things, is going to continue to do some great things for the people of this country.”
Mr Johnson admitted that following Thursday’s by-election defeats “no doubt people will continue to beat me up and say this or that to attack me”.
Cabinet loyalists rallied around the Prime Minister but after Mr Dowden quit, sources insisted the PM was not worried about further resignations: “He’s got a big job to do. It’s not the wheels coming off the bus, it’s a couple of nuts.”
Priti Patel said it is “important” the Tories
have a “moment of reflection” following the by-election results. The Home Secretary told LBC: “It’s right that we listen to the voters from both of those constituencies, it’s right that we carry on with our service to them, but also recognise the issues that they themselves are raising.”
Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said: “The voters have spoken, and we need to listen. Conservative voters in particular stayed at home and we need to give them reasons to come back at the next election.
“We do that with a laser-like focus on delivery. The voters will judge this Conservative Government on what we deliver next.”
Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, a close Cabinet ally of Mr Johnson, said the defeats were “a reminder that we must be relentless in cracking on with the job of delivering”.
While Deputy PM Dominic Raab said: “We’re going to be relentlessly focused on delivery, not allow the distractions of recent times to take our eye off the ball.”
Regular Tory critics of the Prime Minister, including veteran backbencher Sir Roger Gale, repeated their calls for him to quit.
Former party leader Lord Howard also yesterday urged Mr Johnson to resign: “The party and more importantly the country would be better off under new leadership.”
The peer also urged Cabinet ministers to “very carefully consider their positions”.
Tory dissident Andrew Bridgen signalled a fresh attempt to oust Mr Johnson might start when nominations for the membership of the 1922 Committee open next week
Opposition MPs celebrated the Tories’ defeats. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said they were “imploding” and called his party’s Wakefield win a “huge result”. Visiting the seat, he said: “This puts us now absolutely on track for a Labour Government.”
In Tiverton, Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey posed with a blue door bearing the message “It’s time to show Boris Johnson the door”.
He said: “Boris Johnson has got to go.”