Daily Mail - 06.09.2019

Daily Mail, Friday, September 6, 2019 Page 

Voters are more

afraid of Corbyn

than No Deal

VOTERS are more worried about the pros-

pect of a Corbyn government than a No

Deal Brexit, a poll revealed.

The survey of nearly a thousand respond-

ents for Politico and Hanbury Strategy

found 43 per cent think Jeremy Corbyn

becoming prime minister would be the

worst possible outcome.

This compared with 35 per cent who said

a No Deal would be the worst outcome.

Around a quarter said the two options

were equally bad.

The Labour leader is also behind on the

‘best prime minister’ measure, with 18

per cent choosing Mr Corbyn and 40 per

cent Boris Johnson. Among Liberal Demo-

crat voters, 40 per cent preferred Mr

Johnson to Mr Corbyn as prime minister.

But the Conservatives only have a seven-

point lead ahead of Labour – a similar

margin to the one David Cameron had in

2015 when he won a tiny majority.

It puts the Tories on 33 per cent, Labour

on 26 per cent, the Lib Dems on 17 per

cent and the Brexit Party on 14 per cent.

Hanbury’s polling expert James Kana-

gasooriam said: ‘Initial numbers indicate

Johnson’s strategy appears to be working

• stapling together No Deal to his leader-
  ship of the Conservative Party and Remain
  to Corbyn is presenting the electorate
  with a realigned but clear choice.
  ‘Corbyn’s historic unpopularity has cre-
  ated the conditions under which a small
  plurality of voters are willing to opt for
  No Deal when faced with the choice of
  Corbyn as prime minister.’
  But he added that given the small Tory
  lead, this support could be ‘shallow’.

Educated at Eton and Oxford
like his brother, he secured an
early notable advantage over
Boris, graduating from Balliol
College with a First. (Boris
received a 2.1)
According to family legend,
when the results came out sis-
ter rachel – the broadcaster
and columnist – rang Boris to
tell him the ‘terrible news’.
While Boris now occupies
No10, it was the younger of the
two who was being talked of as
a future prime minister.
Jo was head of the downing
Street policy unit for two years
and he later drafted the 2015
tory manifesto which contained
the fateful commitment for a
referendum on Britain’s mem-
bership of the EU.
‘No ifs or buts, Jo was four-
square behind that manifesto
pledge and he stood for election

on a commitment to respect the

referendum result in the 2017

election too,’ said a tory figure.

But while Jo made steady if

unspectacular progress in the

lower reaches of Government,

Boris took centre stage as For-

eign Secretary after the referen-

dum. despite their sharp politi-

cal differences, they remained

close. On one occasion Jo joined

an intimate dinner at Boris’s

official residence in Carlton

House terrace.

A fellow guest recalls: ‘Jo was

very respectful of his brother –

he clearly held him in huge

regard. But they didn’t josh

with one another as equals.

Boris alone held the floor.’

A family friend cautions

against suggestions that the

relationship between the broth-

ers will be seriously fractured.

‘they are extremely close and

that old adage about blood

being thicker than water could

have been written for the John-

sons. Whenever they are all

together – which is often – there

is an element of the Johnsons

against the world. Not so much

a sense of entitlement but of

sticking together through thick

and thin. they will never fall out

like the Miliband brothers did.’

N

OtHING illustrates

that better than on

the morning of Boris’s

leadership campaign

launch back in June. Jo was

spotted trudging slowly through

St James’s Park, shoulders

slumped, brow furrowed. He

looked like a condemned man

approaching the gallows.

Asked if he was going to back

Boris, he slowly replied: ‘You do

what you have to do. I’m wan-

dering slowly there.’

While he has no regrets about

backing Boris for the leader-

ship, Jo now knows he should

have turned down the ministe-

rial job. As for the Prime Minis-

ter, he also realises he made a

mistake. ‘He should never have

offered Jo a job in the first place

as it was inevitable their paths

would sharply divide over

Europe,’ said a tory MP.

Friends were putting the best

possible gloss on it.

According to Boris’s biogra-

pher Andrew Gimson, Jo’s

resignation was actually

something of a favour for the

Prime Minister.

He said: ‘He could never pro-

mote Jo to the Cabinet because

he would be accused of nepo-

tism and yet he was too good to

remain in the second division of

junior ministers. this at least is

a way out of that conundrum.’

that may be true. But the fact

is that neither of them emerge

from this sorry mess well.

Big brother: Jo

Johson chats

to Boris at a

party. Left, the

blond pair as

children with

sister Rachel

Carrie WILL join

PM at Balmoral

CArrIE Symonds will meet the Queen

today during Boris Johnson’s formal visit

to Balmoral – the first time an unmarried

partner has accompanied a serving prime

minister on the traditional engagement.

the Queen spends every summer at Bal-

moral Castle in Scotland where she is

joined by other members of the royal Fam-

ily, and traditionally hosts the Prime Minis-

ter for a weekend in September.

But this year’s visit will be cut short due

to political turmoil in Westminster. Instead

of a weekend-long visit, the Prime Minister

and Miss Symonds, 31, will stay in the cas-

tle in Aberdeenshire tonight before return-

ing to London on Saturday.

Mr Johnson will have a formal audience

with Her Majesty and the couple will attend

dinner with the Queen, the duke of Edin-

burgh and other members of the royal

Family. A No 10 source said: ‘this is a very

busy time for the Government.’

Miss Symonds, who lives in downing

Street with Mr Johnson, 55, is a senior

adviser at Oceana, a US-based environ-

mental campaign group.

France could

block extension

FRANCE yesterday warned Remain-sup-

porting MPs trying to thwart No Deal that

it could block another extension request.

French European affairs minister Amelie

de Montchalin said another delay would

not solve the UK’s Brexit ‘problem’.

Pro-Remain MPs have approved a bill

which would force Boris Johnson to ask

the EU for an extension if a new deal can-

not pass the Commons. But any request

would be subject to the 27 EU member

states unanimously agreeing to grant it.

Yesterday, Mrs de Montchalin said: ‘We

can see that another six months would

not solve the problem, nor another three

months. We are still struggling to under-

stand what they want.’