Frost: Ditch ‘neo-socialist green fanatics’

THE Prime Minister must clear out the ‘neosocialists, green fanatics and pro-woke’ advisers in No10 if he wants to survive, a former senior minister said yesterday.

Lord Frost, once one of Boris Johnson’s closest political allies, said the PM needed to make ‘huge changes’ in both policy and the way he runs No10 in the wake of the Partygate controversy that has pushed his premiership to the brink.

The former Brexit minister, who quit last month in protest at Covid restrictions, turned his fire on some of the advisers around Mr Johnson, who are accused of pushing green policies and an agenda that has alienated traditional Tory supporters.

He said the clearout should involve ‘all the neo-socialists, green fanatics and pro-woke crowd exiting immediately’. Lord Frost did not identify any of the advisers involved. But Tory MPs have previously raised concerns about a number of young advisers close to the PM’s wife Carrie, including the senior aide Henry Newman.

Mr Newman is said to have championed the controversial conversion therapy legislation and raised concerns about cutting the Government’s funding for Stonewall.

Lord Frost praised an article by Telegraph columnist Allister Heath yesterday which called for a ‘total reset’ of the PM’s administration.

Mr Heath said that ‘without drastic urgent action the party will be sucked into the kind of death spiral that sunk John Major’s government in the mid-1990s’.

He said the Tories ‘need the old Boris back. He would have to ditch the national insurance increase, embrace a freeze on public spending and accept major shifts to his green agenda’.

Lord Frost wrote on Twitter that Mr Heath was ‘spot on’. He added: ‘In policies – so we start delivering the huge changes needed to make sure we can create wealth and enhance freedom in systems and people – so the levers of government work... Whatever conclusions about the leadership Tory MPs may draw from the [Sue] Gray report and whatever follows, the crucial thing is significant change in policies and in systems and people around the PM.’

BORIS Johnson was nicknamed the ‘greased piglet’ by David Cameron for his ability to slip out of the trickiest corners.

Now mired in the Partygate controversy – a calamitous mess of his own making – and facing a police investigation, would many bet against him pulling off another incredible act of political escapology?

The Daily Mail certainly hopes he succeeds. Of course, the lockdown-busting soirees at No10 shouldn’t have happened – and he bears ultimate responsibility.

But the Prime Minister has shown sincere regret. And surely his stellar achievements – vanquishing Jeremy Corbyn, getting Brexit done, delivering the vaccine and ensuring the UK is the first major country to regain our freedoms – have more than earned him a second chance.

To survive, he must refocus and redirect all his efforts to rebuilding public trust.

Top of the list should be the symbolic spiking of the ill-conceived national insurance hike. That would generate huge goodwill while easing the punishing financial toll on families and business. The £13billion saved from lower borrowing could fund social care and cutting the NHS backlog.

Mr Johnson should also heed ally Lord Frost, the former-Brexit minister, and clear out the neo-socialists, green fanatics and pro-woke advisers from Downing Street.

Tougher policies to tackle Channel migrants, the flawed Northern Ireland protocol and energy self-sufficiency will reconnect him with millions of voters.

With London crowned the world’s leading financial centre, the economy booming and Plan B curbs finally axed, the country is on a glorious trajectory out of the pandemic.

But only if Boris lets his inner Tory flourish can Britain truly prosper – and his ailing leadership and popularity recover.