The Sunday Times - UK (2022-02-06)

F

or a man battling to save his pre-

miership, Boris Johnson was

upbeat towards the end of last

week. “He keeps yelling

‘Onward!’ at people,” said a

No 10 official. The question this

weekend among staff and min-

isters is: to what? “It is unclear if

we are heading to the sunlit

uplands or the valley of death,”

one aide said.

Many MPs and even close aides are still

contemplating the end of Johnson’s time

in charge after a bruising week in which

he lost five senior aides and the number of

MPs calling for him to resign kept rising.

Nonetheless, allies say he is deter-

mined to cling on. “He’s making very clear

that they’ll have to send a Panzer division

to get him out of there,” one senior

adviser said.

On Friday Johnson went into action,

summoning a new “brains trust” of advis-

ers to thrash out changes to his team. The

group, led by Isaac Levido, the master-

mind of Johnson’s 2019 landslide election

win, met in the office of Dan Rosenfield,

the outgoing chief of staff, to draw up the

blueprint for a new No 10 in secrecy.

Johnson was joined by telephone from

Australia by Sir Lynton Crosby, his long-

standing strategist and a mentor to Lev-

ido; Nigel Adams, who has been co-ordi-

nating “Operation Save Big Dog” in the

Commons; the close aide Ben Gascoigne;

Ross Kempsell, from Tory campaign

headquarters; and Will Lewis, once John-

son’s editor at The Daily Telegraph. “Will

has been providing advice but will not be

taking a formal role,” a source said.

Candidates for the posts of chief of staff

and communications director were smug-

gled into the building. After a one-on-one

interview with the prime minister in his

office, Guto Harri, who was Johnson’s

chief aide at City Hall in his first term as

London mayor, agreed to return as his

spin doctor after a decade apart, follow-

ing the resignation last week of Jack Doyle.

The prime minister has appointed

Steve Barclay, the Cabinet Office minister,

as political chief of staff, with a remit to set

up a prime minister’s department in No 10

and the Cabinet Office next door. He is

expected to get a couple more ministers

to beef up his team while he focuses on his

role as an “enforcer” of Johnson’s agenda

across Whitehall.

The appointment of David Canzini,

another protégé of Crosby, as a political

aide in charge of liaising with MPs is

expected in the next day or two. He is pop-

children and her husband, and has voiced

the view that it might be preferable if he

were to throw in the towel.

One who knows the couple and the

prime minister’s inner circle well said:

“She was saying she had had enough a

couple of weeks ago. She was telling

friends the pressure on her was too much

and she’d be happier if he left.” A friend of

Carrie added: “She just wants to focus on

her children.”

It is not claimed that she is telling her

husband to resign; indeed, some of them

think that is unlikely. But the pressure will

only intensify this weekend with the pub-

lication of extracts from a biography

bankrolled by the Tory peer Lord Ash-

croft. The book is expected to make

claims about the extent of Carrie’s influ-

ence over No 10 policy and repeats allega-

tions that she fiddled her expenses when

she was communications director of the

Conservative Party, which she denies.

T

he book was due to be published

later this year but has been brought

forward to maximise impact. Allies

blame Dominic Cummings, the

prime minister’s former aide who

left Downing Street in 2020 after losing a

power struggle with Carrie, and other

former No 10 officials for planting stories

about her in the book.

Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary,

said: “This book is based on a tissue of lies

provided by vengeful and mendacious

men who were once employees in No 10

and is an insight into their warped minds.

If it ever sees the light of day, it should be

filed under fiction. Carrie had a baby only

weeks ago, and the obsessive way in

which she is hounded is bordering on sin-

ister.”

However, Downing Street insiders fear

that Cummings will use his blog this week

to launch a new attack designed to tip

more MPs into demanding a vote of confi-

dence on Johnson’s leadership.

Cummings is believed to be in touch

with a network of officials in the govern-

ment who believe the only way to save it is

to remove Johnson from office. He has

established WhatsApp groups across

Whitehall with officials in No 10 and the

Cabinet Office for people to send him

information about unethical or incompe-

tent behaviour by the prime minister.

Civil servants and special advisers are

feeding Cummings details of how No 10

convinced Lord Geidt, the independent

adviser on ministerial interests, not to

find the prime minister in breach of the

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6

POLITICS

6

POLITICS

Frozen

Paralysed in No 10, are the PM

and his wife ready to let it go?

Left in limbo by the parties scandal and the drip-drip of constant attacks, Boris Johnson appears determined to cling to power. But as

damaging new claims emerge about Carrie, his magic may already be spent. Tim Shipman, Caroline Wheeler and Gabriel Pogrund report

ular with Brexiteers, having helped to run

the “chuck Chequers” campaign to derail

Theresa May’s deal with Brussels in 2018.

Canzini has begun to contact MPs. In a

message to one rebel last week, he asked:

“What would it take to get you to rescind

your letter?” The MP suggested that a

knighthood might do the trick.

A small reshuffle is likely to follow, in

which Mark Spencer could be replaced as

chief whip. Adams or Chris Pincher, who

led the operation to keep MPs onside, are

tipped — but one source even suggested

that Johnson thinks Priti Patel’s “no non-

sense” approach might be better suited to

that job than home secretary.

The plans are a desperate throw of the

dice by Johnson to change the narrative of

his premiership, which is paralysed by a

crisis where he, his ministers, aides and

MPs are subject to a water torture of seem-

ingly almost daily disasters and gaffes.

In another show of intent, Levido

chaired the first meeting to prepare for

the next election, due in 2024, on Thurs-

day in the boardroom of Conservative

campaign headquarters. They discussed

electoral strategy, a marginal seats pro-

gramme, their war book of opposition

research on Labour and how the cam-

paign would track the delivery of John-

son’s promises. Levido said: “If we get

things right in this building, we can hold

the seats we gained in 2019.”

Even as the meeting was going on, the

chances of Johnson surviving to fight that

election appeared to be dwindling. That

Thursday the prime minister was in his

official car on the way to an event in Black-

pool when he took a call from Munira

Mirza, the head of the No 10 policy unit,

who has been a close ally since Johnson

was mayor. She implored him to make a

public apology for a statement he had

made in the Commons on Monday, accus-

ing Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, of

having presided over the decision not to

charge the paedophile Jimmy Savile with

sex offences.

Mirza was appalled, as were most of the

cabinet, since Starmer played no role in

that decision, although he was director of

public prosecutions at the time. The idea

had originally been whispered to Johnson

on the front bench by Jacob Rees-Mogg,

leader of the Commons.

The comments had already under-

mined Johnson’s pledge, made in the

debate, to change direction. The debate

was called to discuss the findings of the

civil servant Sue Gray’s report into the

Downing Street parties. The inquiry

revealed that police were investigating 12

gatherings for alleged Covid rule-

breaking and criticised a “failure of lead-

ership” in Downing Street. Gray has more

than 300 photographs, including one of

Johnson clutching a beer.

When he got to the Blackpool event the

prime minister changed his line, admit-

ting that Starmer was not responsible for

the Savile case. He did not apologise.

More calls with Mirza followed but by

mid-afternoon she had decided to resign.

In an excoriating letter she wrote: “This

was not the normal cut-and-thrust of poli-

tics; it was an inappropriate and partisan

reference to a horrendous case of child

sex abuse. You tried to clarify your posi-

tion today but, despite my urging, you did

not apologise for the misleading impres-

sion you gave.”

Colleagues compared her departure to

the last raven leaving the Tower of Lon-

don. A minister who has known the prime

minister for years said: “If he’s lost her, he

really is screwed. There really isn’t any-

one left.” He paused and added: “It’s a bit

like losing Carrie.”

Mirza may be little known outside

Westminster but Johnson once called her

one of the five most important women in

his life. She was followed out of the door

on Friday morning by Elena Narozanski,

who was in charge of the equalities brief

in the policy unit. She is a former England

boxer who gave up the sport over trans

rights and the fear that she would face an

opponent who had been born a man.

Both Mirza and Narozanski had clashed

with Carrie Johnson over trans issues,

although reports that Mirza and the prime

minister’s wife had a stand-up row about

her departure are untrue, since the aide

was not in the building at the time.

More amicable were the departures of

Doyle and Rosenfield, who both spoke to

Johnson by phone after Mirza’s decision

had been announced.

Rosenfield, far from universally popu-

lar in No 10, was praised by colleagues for

the “calm, professional way” he helped

with the search for his successor. He may

get another government role but fancies a

return to the private sector. “When we

had a big investment conference with all

the blue-chip companies, Dan was press-

ing lots of flesh,” one ministerial aide said.

“He called it ‘my milk round’.”

A bigger worry for Johnson are claims

from credible sources that Mirza is not the

only woman in his life with concerns.

Three sources say that Carrie Johnson has

grown weary of the pressure on her, their

Carrie told

friends she’d

be happier if

he resigned

be happier if

he resigned

Sajid Javid, perhaps with the

prospect of a return to the

Treasury for Javid, now the

health secretary. Another

possible move would be to

put Tom Tugendhat,

chairman of the Commons

foreign affairs committee, in

the cabinet if he backs Sunak

in the second round of the

contest.

“The best bet for Rishi is

for him to come out with all

the grown-ups backing him

and then there would be

pressure for others to drop

out and support whoever

tops the poll among MPs,”

one said.

Priti Patel, the home

secretary, is also understood

to be the latest candidate to

start taking soundings from

Tory MPs with the help of

Patrick Robertson, a former

adviser to the former minister

Jonathan Aitken.

them into the final stages of

the race at her expense.

The idea was discussed at a

meeting of Sunak’s

supporters in a popular

Italian restaurant in

Westminster last month.

“Sunak wants to wear the

crown but not wield the

knife,” said one of those

present.

Another Tory MP involved

in the plot highlighted the

threat posed by Truss,

adding: “Liz is the only one

with any personality.”

MPs backing the

chancellor also think he

would be sensible to offer

jobs to his main leadership

rivals. They are discussing the

deputy prime ministership

going to Jeremy Hunt, the

former health secretary and

foreign secretary. They also

want Sunak to nail down the

support of Michael Gove and

potential candidates will put

themselves forward.

Candidates will seek

nominations from their

fellow Tory MPs, but if they

don’t meet a threshold

specified by the 1922

Committee chairman they

won’t go any further.

A series of ballots will then

be held among Conservative

MPs until only two candidates

are left standing.

The final two candidates

will then go before the party

membership on the basis of

one member, one vote.

Sunak’s supporters are

understood to be hatching a

coronation plot for any

contest. They are confident

that he can knock out his

main rival Liz Truss, the

foreign secretary, before the

final round. Sunak would

lend votes to another

candidate to help propel

1922 Committee asking for a

vote of confidence in the

leader. If a majority of Tory

MPs then support the prime

minister in a confidence vote,

no new vote can be called for

12 months. The only other

way to a leadership contest is

for the incumbent to resign.

When an election is called,

who wields the knife never

wears the crown,” the MP

said.

To trigger a Conservative

leadership election, 15 per

cent of the party’s MPs — at

present 54 of the 360 Tory

members of the House of

Commons — must send a

letter to the chairman of the

photograph of people

drinking wine in the Downing

Street garden appears to have

been taken from Rishi’s office

window,” a cabinet minister

said.

However, the main rift in

the cabinet appears to have

been caused by fears that

Sunak is on “leadership

manoeuvres”.

“This is a team sport and

we live or die together and he

is not playing the game ... He

has been very high-handed,”

a senior cabinet minister said.

The backlash appears to

have spread to the back

benches, with one veteran

Conservative MP comparing

Sunak to Michael Heseltine,

criticised by colleagues for

openly attacking Margaret

Thatcher towards the end of

her premiership. “Everyone

knows, after what happened

to Michael Heseltine, that he

Cabinet ministers have

turned on Rishi Sunak,

accusing him of plotting

against the prime minister.

Three members of the

cabinet have said the

chancellor should be sacked

for disloyalty as Boris

Johnson fights to save his

premiership. The prime

minister could face a

confidence vote as early as

this week.

“Rishi has been far too

blatant this week,” one said.

“He’s a bit like a five-year-old

boy who tells the girl he likes

to ‘please, please’ not kiss

him. He appears to be trying

to hasten the PM’s departure

before things get properly

shit with the economy.”

Another said colleagues

had been “flabbergasted” by

his behaviour and his

“blatant plotting”. “He has

behaved in a childish,

immature and petulant way.

No one will ever elect

someone so duplicitous as

leader,” they added.

It comes after Sunak

rebuked the prime minister

for a personal attack on Sir

Keir Starmer. Johnson had

claimed the Labour leader

failed to prosecute the

paedophile Jimmy Savile

when he was director of

public prosecutions.

Sunak’s operation has

been accused of leaking a

photograph of Johnson and

his wife, Carrie, at an outdoor

gathering of 17 people on May

15, 2020, at the height of the

lockdown. The picture, being

investigated by police, shows

staff drinking wine and eating

cheese.

“It’s no surprise that the

Vengeful cabinet turns on ‘plotter’ Sunak as succession rumours intensify

Caroline Wheeler

and Tim Shipman

be h

MPs

are

T

will

mem

one

S

und

coro

con

that

ma

fo

fi

l

,

Rishi Sunak is

said to be on

leadership

manoeuvres

and could pick

Jeremy Hunt

as his deputy

The PM

is in the

‘danger

zone’