OF THE MOB
12RULE Johnson’s Tories accused of blackmailing and bullying their own MPS to get them to support under-fire prime minister
BORIS Johnson was last night accused of acting like a mafia don amid claims Tory MPS plotting to oust him over Partygate have been blackmailed and bullied.
Rebels were allegedly warned they would have constituency funds for vital services blocked or damaging stories about them planted in the press unless they supported the PM as he tries to save his own skin.
A senior Tory has urged MPS to report any such claims to police.
And Christian Wakeford, the Red Wall Tory who defected to Labour this week, claimed party chiefs used the same outrageous tactics in a bid to get him to vote against free school meals for poor kids in the holidays.
The Bury South MP accused whips of threatening to scrap cash for a much-needed new school in his constituency in Greater Manchester if he sided with Labour in a bid to help feed hungry children.
It came as Mr Johnson was boasting about “levelling up” poorer areas.
Mr Wakeford said last night: “I was threatened that I would not get the school for Radcliffe if I did not vote in one particular way.
“This is a town that’s not had a high school for the best part of 10 years, and how would you feel when holding back the regeneration of a town for a vote?
“It didn’t sit comfortably and that was when I was really starting to question my place at that time.”
The Mirror understands it was a Cabinet Minister who is claimed to have issued the threat to Mr Wakeford. Records show Labour’s motion in October 2020 was voted down by Tory MPS, leaving thousands of families struggling to feed their children.
Tory MP William Wragg yesterday claimed Mr Johnson’s henchmen were at it again over a potential no-confidence vote in the PM in the wake of the Downing Street lockdown parties scandal.
He accused No10 staff, special advisers and whips of threatening to leak embarrassing stories to newspapers about the MPS supporting a motion to ditch Mr Johnson.
Other MPS claim they were warned their constituencies would be “starved of cash” if the failed to fall into line.
Commons Public Administration Committee chair Mr Wragg urged MPS to report any attempt to blackmail them to Scotland Yard.
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said: “It is remarkable that a Prime Minister could countenance scrapping local projects and funding if MPS refuse to back him.
“All Boris Johnson cares about is saving his own skin. He’s acting more like a mafia boss than a PM.”
Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner added: “These are grave and shocking accusations of bullying, blackmail, and misuse of public money and must be investigated.
“The idea that areas of our country will be starved of funding because their MPS don’t fall into line to prop up this failing Prime Minister is disgusting.”
Mr Johnson last night dismissed the blackmail claims.
On a visit to Taunton, Somerset, he insisted: “I’ve seen no evidence to support those allegations.”
Asked if he would look for evidence to support the claims, the PM replied: “Of course.”
To trigger a no-confidence vote in Mr Johnson, 54 letters will need to be handed to the Tory 1922 Committee.
There were claims yesterday some letters have been withdrawn.
But the PM is also braced for next week’s Partygate probe report by senior civil servant Sue Gray. Insiders fear it will fail to fully clear him over the May 20, 2020 “bring your own booze” garden bash at No10.
One government source said: “It’s not going to be as good as people think.
“She’s genuinely struggling to reconcile the Prime Minister’s claim that this was a work event with what she’s been hearing from other people.”
Conservative MP Steve Baker warned it looks like “checkmate” for Mr Johnson over the party scandal.
Former Brexit Secretary David Davis had called for the PM to “go now” in the Commons on Wednesday.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid yesterday admitted the Tory bigwig’s demand was “damaging” for the PM.
He also said if Mr Johnson was found to have broken the law he would have to go.
Mr Javid added: “There is no exception to that rule.”
IT ain’t particularly pleasant
to watch an Orange Order parade at the best of times, but to observe it on a bad acid trip is the stuff of nightmares.
That’s what happened to
Primal Scream frontman Bobby Gillespie some years ago, when he mistook the marchers and band for a giant orange slug leaving a trail of orange slime
behind them. In his new
iautobiography, Tenement Kid, the 59-year old singer and big Celtic fan said that he had been “rolling about” in a forest “all day, naked” (as you would) before he spotted the band/slug near Glasgow.
Many of our friends in the North will agree with Bobby that the only way to watch an Orange parade is to be out of your head
on acid.