High Conservatives accused Boris Johnson of increasingly “delusional” behavior Saturday night after he said he was already planning his third term as prime minister, just two days after the Conservatives suffered a catastrophic double defeat. electoral at the hands of the Liberal Democrats and Labor. .
As the conversation about Johnson’s replacement intensified, several lawmakers asked why the prime minister had been able to give interviews in which he said he would refuse to change his way of doing things, and then in even more challenging terms. , told reporters at the Commonwealth summit in Rwanda. which he planned to be on Downing Street until well into the 2030s.
In a series of speeches that angered MPs, the prime minister suggested he would not change his behavior in office, considered issues surrounding his leadership resolved and saw his term as prime minister extended to a distant future.
Asked by reporters in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, whether he would like to run for a second term as prime minister, Johnson said: “Right now I’m actively thinking about the third term and you know, what could happen then.” and added, “But I’ll check it out when I get there.”
He continued: “We have embarked on a massive project to change the government, the constitution of the country, the way we manage our legal system, the way we manage our borders, our economy. All sorts of things we are doing differently. We too, at the same time, are embarking on a colossal project to unite and rise in level … It will take time. And I want to keep going. “
Her comments echoed Margaret Thatcher, who alarmed some of her conservative critics and no doubt accelerated her fall as prime minister when she said she intended to “go on and on” after the general election. of 1987.
Margaret Thatcher alarmed critics when she said she intended to continue after the 1987 general election. Photo: Bettmann / Bettmann Archive
Earlier, Johnson provoked ridicule and frustration among Conservative MPs by suggesting he would not change his personality, despite a series of scandals and fights that have left them pondering ways to dismiss him as a leader. He said voters were tired of hearing what “he was supposed to have done wrong.”
“If you’re saying you want some kind of psychological transformation to happen, I think our listeners would know this isn’t going to happen,” Johnson told BBC Radio 4 Today.
“What you can do, and what the government should do, and what I want to do, is continue to change, reform and improve our systems and our economy.”
He later told Sky News that people wanted to hear less about the “things I filled out.” He said he believed questions about this leadership had been resolved.
A former supporter of the prime minister, a former cabinet minister, described Johnson’s statements as “completely delusional”, while a senior MP from a “red wall” seat said he was showing growing signs of a bunker mentality, and that never ends. well. “
A party major who backed him to lead in 2019 said that if Johnson “ignored the lessons of Tiverton, Honiton and Wakefield and took appropriate action, his parliamentary colleagues will have to do so to he “.
Another former minister said there could be moves to oust Johnson at the Conservative party conference in the fall. Referring to Theresa May’s Brexit Checkers agreement, the former minister said: “Remember that in 2018 he turned the conference into the ‘chuck Checkers’ conference. This could be the Chuck Boris conference.”
Writing to the Observer, Labor leader Keir Starmer says the result of the Wakefield by-election shows that his party is ready for a general election and for power, after undergoing profound change and reform since who took over from Jeremy Corbyn.
As the Conservatives try to sow the seeds of division, he says he has established Labor “firmly at the center of British politics”. He adds: “For months, Boris Johnson has stated in private that he will hold early elections. My message to him is simple: bring it on.”
Conservative rebels are exploring the option of holding an emergency vote by activists this summer on Johnson’s leadership. The tactic was deployed when the party tried to expel Theresa May. While any vote would not be binding, it would be a sign that party bases had lost faith in the prime minister.
Conservative MPs are also preparing for the 1922 Conservative Executive Committee executive election, which may change the rules on leadership elections to allow another vote of confidence in Johnson in a year.
Earlier this month, 148 Conservative MPs did not express confidence in him, 32 less than the number needed to force his resignation. Under current rules, another vote cannot be held for one year if a leader survives a vote of confidence.
Johnson will once again try to put aside domestic political problems with a call for new sanctions against Russia and increased spending on defense of international partners, while heading to the G7 and NATO summits for five days of intense diplomatic discussions. He plans to fly to Germany on Sunday morning from Rwanda.
But Conservative MPs believe he is even more vulnerable to conspiracies by members of his own party when he is out of the country.
Oliver Dowden, who resigned as chairman of the Conservative Party. Photography: Aaron Chown / PA
The by-election results, followed by the dramatic early Friday resignation of party chairman Oliver Dowden, sparked shock waves in the party hierarchy and raised serious questions about morale at all levels.
Johnson is to hold talks with a number of fellow leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden, first at the G7’s annual meeting of industrialized nations in southern Germany this year before flying to Madrid. in Spain for a NATO summit to be held. be dominated by the Ukrainian war.
The invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its many consequences will be especially at the forefront of the Madrid meeting, with Johnson ready to reiterate his support for Finland and Sweden to join the alliance.
Although a bilateral meeting with Biden has not yet been formally scheduled, at the G7 Johnson is due to hold talks with Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, the first Japanese Fumio Kishida, Justin Trudeau, the first Canadian, and Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of South Africa.
In NATO, where he will arrive on Tuesday afternoon, Johnson’s previously agreed bilateral talks include Anthony Albanese, the new Australian Prime Minister, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Pedro Sanchez, the Spanish Prime Minister and Mark Rutte, his counterpart Dutch. Other appointments include a leaders’ dinner hosted by the Spanish king, Philip VI.