The Tories accused Boris Johnson of trying to torpedo Rishi Sunak’s bid to succeed him as prime minister – and of refusing to leave the number 10 with good grace – while his leadership career turned into bitter fights. internal.
When a trio of cabinet ministers showed up last night, senior lawmakers said the battle now runs the risk of causing even more damage to the party than the fall of Margaret Thatcher more than three decades ago.
A party major accused Johnson of installing inappropriate deputies for middle-ranking and junior government positions when he knew he was going to “cause maximum problems to his successor,” who would inevitably have to fire most of them for take office.
“Those appointments were the scariest I’ve ever seen in politics,” the main source said. “It was obviously a move to sabotage the first few weeks in charge of his successor.”
Another senior government figure added that Johnson was so outraged by the way he had been ousted, after winning such a large term in the 2019 general election, that he was now determined to take revenge on those he held responsible and influence. events whenever possible from the outside.
“This is not an administration that goes smoothly. There is a lot of anger at how all this happened, ”the source said.“ It is clear that much of this will now focus on Rishi. It’s all very trumpy. “
A former vice-chairman of the 1922 Conservative MP committee, Sir Charles Walker, told the Observer that requests for moderation made no sense because there was so much bad blood.
“People like me can say until we put on a blue face that the Conservative party should not be broken, but our pleas will fall on deaf ears.
“It is clear that the prime minister remains deeply affected by the chancellor’s resignation. Rishi’s camp will have to absorb a lot of rage over the next few days. This will apply to whoever takes over.”
Meanwhile, Johnson’s allies warned the party that it would soon regret leaving him and accused competing candidates to replace him of being unable to repeat his successes. They say Sunak, in particular, faces issues of “loyalty and ownership” and accuse him of having planned his leadership offer for months while publicly professing his loyalty.
On Saturday night, amid the agitation of the succession, new allegations surfaced that Johnson had pressured him to get a job for a young woman who claims she was having sex with him during his time as mayor of London.
According to the Sunday Times, the appointment was blocked because Kit Malthouse, then a senior City Council figure and now cabinet minister, suggested the couple had an inappropriately close relationship. Johnson is said to have admitted to pushing her for a job when the woman, who remains anonymous, confronted him in 2017.
The allegations follow reports last month that Johnson had tried to secure his wife, Carrie, a role as chief of staff during his time as secretary of state. The couple were having an affair at the time. He is also accused of helping American businesswoman Jennifer Arcuri access taxpayer-funded business travel after her 2011 adventure.
Boris Johnson is accused of trying to secure a higher-grade role on Downing Street for his wife Carrie while the couple had an affair. Photography: Leon Neal / Getty Images
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Transportation Secretary Grant Shapps and new Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi took part in the leadership contest on Saturday night, along with Sunak, Attorney General Suella Braverman, former Minister Kemi Badenoch and the chairman of the select committee on Foreign Affairs. Tom Tugendhat.
Shapps said he would focus on the cost of living crisis, while Zahawi promised to reduce taxes “for individuals, families and businesses.”
The chancellor also stressed his “cultural war” credentials, saying he would “focus on letting children be children, protecting them from the harmful and inappropriate nonsense that radical activists force them to do”.
Truss is expected to pledge to reverse the government’s recent increase in national insurance when it officially launches its campaign this week.
Others expected to testify in the coming days include former cabinet ministers Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt. Supporters of Commerce Minister Penny Mordaunt are asking her to testify, while Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, one of the top favorites of bookmakers, said Saturday she would not throw her hat in the ring.
The chairman of the 1922 committee, Sir Graham Brady, will meet on Monday with colleagues from the MP and members of the party board to decide how the contest will proceed. They are expected to agree on a timetable that will reduce the number of candidates to two in a series of MP votes over the next fortnight. Then there will be a reception program for the last two, which will lead to the voting of party members and the announcement of a new leader and prime minister in early September.
According to the latest Opinium poll for the Observer, Sunak is the favorite among people who voted conservative in the last general election. 55.4% said he would be a good prime minister. Javid came in second with 50.5%.
Those close to Johnson are struggling to decide which candidate they should support. “People are trying to solve it right now, the field is darkened by so many unrealistic candidates,” one said.
“There is great concern about what you might call the pro-Boris camp of certain candidates: some, perfectly reasonably, have never accepted what Boris was trying to do.
“Then there are those who have been conducting leadership campaigns from the cabinet for some time, which is an act of maximum disloyalty. If you are so far away in terms of your support for the Prime Minister, you should have resigned months ago. I think that raises a fundamental issue of loyalty and, in fact, ownership. “
Johnson supporters will study any potential campaign by Interior Secretary Priti Patel, as well as Truss and Zahawi, before deciding who to support. Another Johnson supporter said “buyer remorse” was already beginning to grow among those who had helped overthrow Johnson.