Politics has ‘moved on’ as Shapps plays down a return for former PM
POLITICS has “moved on” from the “drama” of the Boris Johnson era, according to a Cabinet minister who played down speculation about the former prime minister making a swift return to Westminster.
Energy Secretary Grant Shapps, who served in Mr Johnson’s cabinet, said he does not think the former Tory leader is in the “mindset” to fight the next general election.
It comes after Johnson ally Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg said the ex-incumbent of No 10, who quit the Commons on Friday in protest against an MPs’ inquiry into partygate, could contest the next election for the Conservative Party and would be in “pole position” during a future leadership contest.
Sir Jacob said, in an article for the Mail On Sunday, there could be a Tory “civil war” if the party tried to “block” him from standing.
Mr Shapps told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme: “There is no kind of chance of him coming back and saying, ‘Right, now I’m going to stand again’.
“From what I understand, even he has said he doesn’t want to do that. So we are rather in the realms of the hypothetical.”
Mr Shapps said Mr Johnson would have been “perfectly entitled to remain as an MP” but “decided to step down”.
He yesterday told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme: “I think people around the country inside and outside the party recognise that Boris was somebody with many qualities.
“But we are now in a world where there are different challenges to face and we’ve got new management in
No 10 getting on with the job and getting on with the priorities of this country.
“I think the world has moved on from what was quite a dramatic period under Brexit and of course under the issues related to Covid, the vaccines and the rest of it.”
He said the UK is in a “calmer period” under the leadership of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who he said is “doing proper Conservative things” in a response to Mr Johnson accusing the UK Government of ditching 2019 manifesto pledges.
Mr Shapps also said he disagrees with Mr Johnson’s criticism of the Commons Privileges Committee’s investigation into whether he misled MPs when he said Covid rules were followed in Downing Street during the pandemic despite lockdownbusting parties taking place.
Mr Johnson attacked the sevenperson panel on Friday as he resigned as an MP, accusing them of a “witch hunt” and likening the panel to a “kangaroo court”.
But Mr Shapps said he has “no rea
son” to support the accusations, denying suggestions the investigation was motivated by a desire to reverse Brexit.
The former Tory chairman said, while Mr Johnson had successes as prime minister, he thinks “people both in the Conservative Party and outside don’t miss the drama” of his premiership.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called for a snap general election after Mr Johnson, along with two of his close allies – Nadine Dorries and Nigel Adams – quit the Commons within 24 hours of each other, triggering by-elections in their seats.
Pat McFadden, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said the country will be “bedevilled by chaos and instability” if the Tory “chaos” is allowed to continue.
He accused Mr Johnson of acting like a “baby-man” with the way he reacted to the yet-to-be-published Privileges Committee conclusion.
The probe, which was chaired by veteran Labour MP Harriet Harman but had a Tory majority, is thought to have ruled that Mr Johnson lied to Parliament over partygate.
Reports suggest it was set to recommend at least a 10-day suspension, reaching the threshold for a byelection in his now-former Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency to be potentially triggered.
Mr McFadden said the committee’s report, which is expected to be published “promptly”, is not the “last word”.
“It then goes to Parliament, where the Tories are sitting on a majority of around 66 seats – at least it was on Friday before they all started resigning,” he told Ridge.
“Even then, it just triggers a recall petition where he could face the voters.
“But the truth is he didn’t want to face any of the verdicts because he can never accept responsibility for his own actions.
“That’s true of all these right-wing populist leaders. They are like babymen. Whenever anything goes wrong, it is everybody else’s fault.”
Over the weekend Sir Chris Bryant, the Labour chairman of the Privileges Committee who recused himself from the investigation into Mr Johnson, raised the possibility that further contempt of Parliament charges could be levelled against the former British leader after his “narcissistic rant”.
Speaking to the Today programme on Saturday, Rhondda MP Sir Chris said: “They may want to conclude that there has been an additional contempt of Parliament by the way that Boris Johnson has behaved in the last 24 hours and in the attacks on the committee, which are in effect an attack on the whole House.
“I don’t think anybody can now be in any doubt that Boris Johnson holds Parliament in contempt.”
Meanwhile, Nigel Farage, the former Brexit Party leader turned broadcaster, said he sees the potential for an insurgent party to emerge after the fallout of Mr Johnson’s resignation.
He suggested more than 10 Conservative MPs have been in touch in relation to potentially joining a new party.
“More than before, I think there are quite a lot of Conservative MPs right now who know they are going to lose their seats,” he told the BBC.
“The Red Wallers know they’re going to lose their seats as it is running as Conservatives and if there was a coming together on the centreright, which is where the gap is, I think quite a few would.”