Kwasi Kwarteng insists Rishi is ‘100 per cent behind’ the PM despite accusations he is ‘blatantly plotting’ to be leader as he rejects Tory MP’s claim that it is ‘inevitable’ Boris will be ousted over Partygate scandal
- Boris Johnson said to be determined to cling to power amid Partygate scandal
- A total of 15 Conservative MPs have now publicly called for Mr Johnson to go
- PM’s allies say critics will need to ‘send a Panzer division’ to get him out of No10
- Kwasi Kwarteng has dismissed claims it is ‘inevitable’ Mr Johnson will have to go
- Business Secretary also insisted Rishi Sunak is ‘100 per cent behind’ the premier
Kwasi Kwarteng today insisted Boris Johnson can stay in Downing Street for the long term as he dismissed claims from Tory MPs that the PM’s exit from Number 10 is now ‘inevitable’.
The Business Secretary said that ‘lots and lots of people have said things are inevitable and they never happened over the last few years and I just want to wait and see’.
Meanwhile, Mr Kwarteng also sought to downplay claims of a rift between Mr Johnson and Rishi Sunak.
Cabinet colleagues have accused the Chancellor of ‘blatantly plotting’ to be the next Tory leader but Mr Kwarteng said Mr Sunak is ‘100 per cent behind the Prime Minister’.
Mr Johnson is said to have told aides that he is determined to cling onto power amid mounting fury over the Partygate scandal.
One senior adviser told The Sunday Times: ‘He’s making very clear that they’ll have to send a Panzer division to get him out of there.’
But pressure continues to mount on Mr Johnson, with 15 Conservative MPs having publicly called for him to go.
Not all of them have confirmed sending letters of no confidence to Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee, but Downing Street is said to believe at least 35 have now gone in and they fear the number could be as high as 45.
That would put the Conservative Party less than ten letters short of the 54 needed to trigger a vote on the PM’s leadership.
Senior Tory MP Sir Charles Walker told The Observer he believes the PM’s exit from Number 10 is now ‘inevitable’ and urged him to go of his own accord.
He said: ‘It is an inevitable tragedy. He is a student of Greek and Roman tragedy. It is going to end in him going, so I just want him to have some agency in that.’
But one source close to Mr Johnson told The Sunday Express that the PM is ‘in a bullish mood’ and has set out a plan to backbenchers to stabilise his premiership.
Mr Johnson is said to have promised a major overhaul of Number 10 and to ditch ‘Lefty policies’ in order to ‘warm the cockles of Tory hearts’.
The shake-up of Downing Street is already well-underway after Mr Johnson appointed Minister for the Cabinet Office Steve Barclay as his new chief of staff following an exodus of aides.
Kwasi Kwarteng today insisted Boris Johnson can stay in Downing Street for the long term as he dismissed claims from Tory MPs that the PM’s exit from Number 10 is now ‘inevitable’
The Business Secretary also sought to downplay claims of a rift between Mr Johnson and Rishi Sunak
Mr Johnson was rocked by the resignation of five Number 10 aides on Thursday and Friday. The PM is said to be determined to cling to power
Questions have been asked about how the Prime Minister’s new chief of staff will balance the ’24/7′ role with also being a Cabinet minister and an MP as Boris Johnson brought new faces into Downing Street following a swathe of resignations.
The Prime Minister announced on Saturday that Steve Barclay, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, would become his chief of staff and take forward reforms to No 10.
But former holders of the job lined up to say they were unsure how Mr Barclay would be able to undertake all his roles.
Gavin Barwell, who was chief of staff to Theresa May, praised Mr Barclay as ‘diligent, smart, insists on high standards and a nice guy to boot’.
But the Tory peer said it ‘won’t be easy to combine being chief of staff with a Minister and MP’.
Nick Timothy, who was also chief of staff to Mrs May alongside Fiona Hill, tweeted: ‘Barclay is very talented, but not sure having a chief of staff who’s also a minister elsewhere can work.’
Jonathan Powell, who held the role under Tony Blair, tweeted: ‘Does he resign as an MP? Or is he answerable to Parliament? I can think of no democracy where the chief of staff can also be in the legislature.
‘I found being No 10 chief of staff a full-time job. Not sure how it could be combined with representing a constituency. And having to go to answer parliamentary questions about the PM would be tricky.’
Mr Johnson previously insisted he was ‘making changes’ to Downing Street and the Cabinet Office in the wake of the handling of the partygate saga. This included creating an Office of the Prime Minister with a permanent secretary to lead No 10.
The Sunday Telegraph reported strategists Sir Lynton Crosby and David Canzini had also been providing Mr Johnson with advice.
Mr Barclay, who is seen as a steady pair of hands, has been tasked with ‘integrating the new Office of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Office’, Downing Street said.
Mr Johnson also announced long-term ally Guto Harri, who worked with the Prime Minister at City Hall when he was Mayor of London, would become his director of communications.
Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner, who also shadows Mr Barclay, said: ‘The Prime Minister has clearly run out of serious people willing to serve under his chaotic and incompetent leadership, so now expects a Cabinet minister to be his chief of staff.
‘This is a farce. Being No 10 chief of staff is a 24/7 job so if Steve Barclay is taking it on as his third job then Tory MPs and the public can have no confidence that the dysfunction in Downing Street will come to an end.’
The Institute for Government’s Dr Catherine Haddon suggested that if Mr Barclay was staying in his Cabinet Office role, ‘this is not a chief of staff’.
She said: ‘Either he’s a chief of staff and CDL (Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster) responsibilities will be neglected. Or he’s de facto deputy PM (despite Raab’s title) and you’re lacking a chief of staff.’
Labour MP Chris Bryant, who is also chairman of the Commons Committee on Standards, tweeted: ‘I don’t understand how an MP can be a chief of staff at Drowning Street, either democratically, legally or logically.’
However Mr Johnson said: ‘The changes I’m announcing to my senior team today will improve how No 10 operates, strengthen the role of my Cabinet and backbench colleagues, and accelerate our defining mission to level up the country.’
The PM will hope the changes are enough to win around wavering backbench Tory MPs who are considering over the weekend whether to submit letters of no confidence in Mr Johnson to Sir Graham Brady.
If the chairman of the 1922 Committee receives 54 letters a vote of no confidence will be called.
Sir Charles Walker, a former vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee, told The Observer Mr Johnson’s departure was an ‘inevitable tragedy’.
He said he wanted the PM to go of his own accord, but added: ‘He is a student of Greek and Roman tragedy. It is going to end in him going, so I just want him to have some agency in that.’
Mr Johnson last night announced Mr Barclay’s appointment, as well as the appointment of a new director of communications, former journalist Guto Harri.
The PM was rocked by the resignation of five senior aides on Thursday and Friday as more MPs sent letters in calling for a vote of no confidence in their leader.
The most painful departure was that of Munira Mirza, who had worked for Mr Johnson for more than a decade.
The policy chief quit on Thursday with a damning letter criticising Mr Johnson for his use of a ‘scurrilous’ smear against Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, over the failure to prosecute Jimmy Savile.
Resignations followed from director of communications Jack Doyle, chief of staff Dan Rosenfield, principal private secretary Martin Reynolds, and special adviser in the policy unit Elena Narozanski.
The Sunday Times also reported that special adviser Henry Newman, a friend of the PM’s wife Carrie, would leave No 10 and would likely return to work with his old boss Michael Gove.
Mr Kwarteng was grilled about Sir Charles’ ‘inevitable’ comment during an interview this morning on Sky News as it was suggested to the Cabinet minister that the ‘game is up’ for Mr Johnson.
But the Business Secretary said: ‘I don’t know where Charles Walker is coming from. I don’t see what he is seeing.
‘I think he is a good vice chair of the 1922. He is entitled to his view as I am entitled to mine.
‘I have to say, you know this, lots and lots of people have said things are inevitable and they never happened over the last few years and I just want to wait and see.
‘I am very focused on delivering the agenda, as is the Prime Minister, I spoke to him earlier in the weekend, and we are very focused on making sure that we have a strong economic recovery, that we have dealt with the Omicron virus and also with the Covid pandemic, that we are creating jobs, bringing in investment into the UK. Those are the things we are focused on as well as dealing with international challenges as we are seeing in Ukraine and with Russia.’
Meanwhile, Mr Kwarteng insisted Mr Sunak is still backing Mr Johnson.
Told that the Chancellor has appeared to have been ‘distancing himself’ from the PM, Mr Kwarteng said: ‘I was with Rishi Sunak in the House of Commons for nearly an hour and a half last week and he unveiled a really good set of measures to help people… why I am mentioning that is that we are working together, we are 100 per cent behind the Prime Minister and we want to deliver on the mandate that we were elected on successfully in 2019.’
Mr Johnson’s position appears to be increasingly precarious, with the number of Tory MPs calling for him to go steadily growing.
There are also increasing divisions at the top of the Government ahead of a potential Tory leadership contest.
Three members of the Cabinet have blasted Mr Sunak and accused him of ‘blatantly plotting’ against Mr Johnson after he publicly rebuked the PM for his attack on Sir Keir.
One minister told The Sunday Times that ‘Rishi has been far too blatant this week’ after he also repeatedly refused to rule out a bid for the leadership if Mr Johnson is ousted.
Another Cabinet minister said they have been left ‘flabbergasted’ by Mr Sunak’s behaviour.
Both Mr Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid distanced themselves from Mr Johnson over his attack on Sir Keir.
But Mr Kwarteng said he believed it was ‘perfectly reasonable’ for Mr Johnson to have made the initial comments about Sir Keir.
The Prime Minister made the allegation in the Commons that Sir Keir had failed to prosecute Savile while he was director of public prosecutions.
He later dialled back, admitting Sir Keir had not been directly involved.
Mr Kwarteng was asked whether he would have used the same words as the PM, and he said: ‘I think it’s entirely legitimate… it depends what the context was.’
He added: ‘In that context, I think it was perfectly reasonable to mention the fact that Sir Keir had apologised. Sir Keir himself apologised on behalf of the organisation that he led about the fact that they failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile.
‘So the fact that he apologised suggests that he does at some level bear some responsibility.’
Mr Kwarteng said he was not saying Sir Keir had ‘personal blame’.
Number 10 said Mr Barclay’s role, which he will combine with his job in the Cabinet Office, would include being ‘in charge of integrating the new Office of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Office, driving the Government’s agenda more efficiently and ensuring it is better aligned with the Cabinet and backbenchers’.
But deputy leader of the Labour Party Angela Rayner, who also shadows Mr Barclay, said: ‘The Prime Minister has clearly run out of serious people willing to serve under his chaotic and incompetent leadership so now expects a Cabinet minister to be his chief of staff.
‘This is a farce. Being No 10 chief of staff is a 24/7 job so if Steve Barclay is taking it on as his third job then Tory MPs and the public can have no confidence that the dysfunction in Downing Street will come to an end.’
Gavin Barwell, who was chief of staff to Theresa May, praised Mr Barclay as ‘diligent, smart, insists on high standards and a nice guy to boot’.
But the Tory peer said it ‘won’t be easy to combine being chief of staff with a Minister and MP’.
Jonathan Powell, who held the role under Tony Blair, tweeted: ‘Does he resign as an MP? Or is he answerable to Parliament? I can think of no democracy where the chief of staff can also be in the legislature.
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Steve Barclay (pictured) will become the PM’s chief of staff and will be ‘in charge of integrating the new Office of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Office, driving the Government’s agenda more efficiently and ensuring it is better aligned with the Cabinet and backbenchers’, No 10 said
Journalist Guto Harri (pictured) is joining Downing Street as director of communications. He was Mr Johnson’s spokesman and chief of staff during his first term as London mayor
‘I found being No 10 chief of staff a full time job. Not sure how it could be combined with representing a constituency. And having to go to answer parliamentary questions about the PM would be tricky.’
Mr Harri was Mr Johnson’s spokesman and chief of staff during his first term as London mayor.
The former BBC journalist quit GB News last year following a row over him taking the knee during a debate on the racism directed towards England football players.
Although considered an ally of Mr Johnson, he has been critical of the PM and called him a ‘hugely divisive figure’.
Mr Johnson said: ‘This week I promised change, so that we can get on with the job the British public elected us to do.
‘We need to continue our recovery from the pandemic, help hundreds of thousands more people into work, and deliver our ambitious agenda to level up the entire country, improving people’s opportunities regardless of where they’re from.
‘The changes I’m announcing to my senior team today will improve how No 10 operates, strengthen the role of my Cabinet and backbench colleagues, and accelerate our defining mission to level up the country.’
More announcements are expected in the coming days with what Number 10 said would be a ‘particular focus on improving engagement and liaison with MPs’.
It had already been announced that Tory MP Andrew Griffith would replace Ms Mirza as policy chief.
Mr Johnson will be hoping the Number 10 staffing shake-up will help to stabilise his premiership.
But a senior Tory told The Telegraph that the exodus of senior aides is likely to trigger more letters being sent to Sir Graham.
They told the newspaper: ‘I think more will put them in, because they just think the whole thing appears chaotic, and so it sort of moves on from people’s original reasons for being disgruntled. It’s just the sense that it’s a complete shambles.’
The appointment of Mr Barclay and Mr Harri came too late for some MPs, as 15 Tories have now publicly called for Mr Johnson to resign.
Wimbledon MP Stephen Hammond was asked on BBC Radio 4 whether it was ‘the beginning of the end’ for the PM, and he said: ‘It certainly looks like that at the moment.’
On Friday, former minister Nick Gibb became the latest Conservative who said Mr Johnson had to be replaced.
Backbencher Aaron Bell (Newcastle-under-Lyme) also declared publicly he had submitted a letter calling for a vote of no confidence in his leader.
John Glen, a Treasury minister and Salisbury MP, said the situation with Number 10 was ‘deeply uncomfortable, disappointing, and embarrassing’.
But Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries launched a passionate defence of the Prime Minister, claiming that 97 per cent of Tory MPs supported Mr Johnson.
Tory MP Andrew Griffith has been appointed Number 10’s policy chief following the resignation of Munira Mirza
She told Times Radio: ‘There are a small number of voices, whether they are people who were ardent supporters of Remain, who see this as their last opportunity to reverse Brexit.’
Out of the 15 Tory MPs who have so far publicly called on Boris Johnson to go, just seven of those had publicly backed remaining in the EU in the 2016 referendum.
One of those who has said the Prime Minister should go is David Davis, who served as Brexit secretary, and another is strident Brexiteer Andrew Bridgen.
Ms Dorries admitted ‘there are a number of reasons actually, it’s not just one’, but she said: ‘That certainly is at play with a group.’
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