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Boris Johnson is to push ahead next
week with controversial legislation
overriding swathes of his own Brexit
deal in a move that will lead to a fresh
clash with his MPs.
The prime minister will publish
legislation to allow the government to
act unilaterally to exempt food and
goods entering Northern Ireland from
EU checks.
The law, which Brussels says is a
breach of the UK’s legal obligations, has
been cited by several high-profile Con-
servative MPs as a reason they voted to
remove him from office.
It will be welcomed by many on the
Tory right, however, who demanded a
tougher stance with Brussels as the
price of their support during the con-
troversy over lockdown parties.
The law is one of a series of interven-
tions intended to galvanise Johnson’s
premiership. He is due to make a speech
tomorrow in which he will pledge to
extend the right to buy to people who
rent from housing associations.
Johnson hopes to draw on the legacy
of Margaret Thatcher, whose scheme
allowing families to buy homes from
councils is seen as one of the Conserva-
tive Party’s defining policies.
On Tuesday the prime minister will
set out more of his economic vision in a
speech alongside Rishi Sunak, the
chancellor. It is expected to focus on
“non-fiscal” measures such as cutting
regulations to try to boost the economy.
A government source said the
Northern Irish legislation was expect-
ed to be “vocally opposed” by some
senior MPs on the left of the party.
Opponents are expected to include
Jesse Norman, a former Treasury
minister who withdrew support from
Johnson on Monday and said that any
breach of the Northern Ireland proto-
col would be “economically very dam-
aging, politically foolhardy, and almost
certainly illegal”.
Other high-profile Tory rebels could
include Sir Oliver Heald, the chairman
of the Northern Ireland select commit-
tee, and Damian Green, the former
deputy prime minister.
A government source said ministers
did not expect the policy to erode John-
son’s support, saying that “most of those
MPs who are opposed to the plan are
Boris Johnson is expected to appoint
the first tranche of MPs from the 2019
intake to shore up support among his
party.
Any reshuffle is likely to mostly focus
on lower-level ministerial jobs rather
than cabinet positions. Those elected
three years ago, mostly in the north and
Midlands, could be brought into the
government in an attempt to build a
new loyal base.
One red wall MP said that they
expected a shake-up this week. Names
suggested for promotion include Rich-
ard Holden, who has been one of the
main Conservatives putting pressure
on Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader,
over his alleged breaking of coronavi-
rus restrictions by drinking a beer in
Durham.
Holden, the MP for North West Dur-
ham, has one of the narrowest majori-
ties of the 2019 election, at 1,144.
Stuart Anderson, the MP for Wolver-
hampton South West, is another possi-
bility. Anderson, a Johnson ally, said
that after the confidence vote on
Monday the “way forward” was for theBigger jobs await for the class of 2019
party to come together. Miriam Cates,
the MP for Penistone & Stocksbridge,
has long been tipped as a rising star and
could be rewarded. However, despite
her support for Johnson her response to
whether he could survive a large rebel-
lion was “Who knows?”.
The prime minister has also been
under pressure from the Northern
Research Group of Tory MPs to restore
the role of northern powerhouse
minister.
If Johnson opts to clear out his top
team, existing ministers could be pro-
moted to the cabinet.
Helen Whately, a Treasury minister,
backed Johnson on Monday and has
been considered a safe pair of hands.
The Faversham & Mid Kent MP said
that Johnson’s 2019 mandate meant it
was time to “get on with the job”.
Another rumoured winner could be
Paul Scully, MP for Sutton and Cheam,
a business minister who dismissed his
colleagues’ concerns as having been
“influenced by noise”. Defending John-
son on the BBC yesterday, Scully said
that he did “still have authority” and
that the party could not afford to have
“three months of a psychodrama” byholding a leadership race. Edward
Argar, a health minister and the MP for
Charnwood, also defended Johnson
yesterday and urged other Conserva-
tives to “get behind the result”. He
dismissed comparisons to previous
confidence votes in which leaders had
later resigned or been forced out.
“Sometimes you see history repeating
itself, sometimes you don’t see history
repeating itself,” he said.
Gillian Keegan, another health min-
ister, also offered her support. The Chi-
chester MP tweeted her backing, point-
ing to Johnson’s response to Covid-
and the Ukraine war.
The fiercely loyal Kemi Badenoch,
MP for Saffron Walden and local
government and equalities minister,
said that her constituents had asked
her for “stability and a focus on issues
like the cost of living, not a change of
PM”.
Johnson’s official spokesman said
yesterday he was not aware that the
prime minister was investigating
whether any of his ministers voted
against him in the confidence ballot. He
said that there were “no plans cur-
rently” for a reshuffle.Geraldine Scott Political ReporterPolicies at the heart of fightback
Brexit
The prime minister will
announce legislation
to override swathes of
his own Brexit deal in
an attempt to break a
deadlock with Brussels.
The move is expected
to be contentious and
is likely to lead to more
clashes with his own
MPs. The EU has
threatened to hit Britain
with retaliatory tariffs.Right to buy
Boris Johnson will
announce plans to
extend the right to buy
to millions of people
who rent from housing
associations. He hopes
to channel Margaret
Thatcher, who
introduced the right to
buy for people living in
council houses.The economy
On Tuesday next weekthe prime minister is
preparing to make a
big intervention on the
economy alongside
Rishi Sunak, the
chancellor. He is
expected to announce
plans to cut regulations
and invest more in
business.Reshuffle
The prime minister is
being urged by somecabinet ministers to
carry out a “revenge
reshuffle” and sack
ministers and
government aides who
failed to vote for him.
Government sources
suggest that the
reshuffle will come later
in the summer and is
not imminent. They
have indicated that it
will be focused on the
lower ministerial ranks.Changes to the Brexit deal could infuriate some MPsTough line on Northern Ireland
News Politics
Oliver Wright Policy Editor
Steven Swinford Political Editor
opposed to Johnson already”. The
source believed the legislation would
pass in the Commons but face “a lot of
resistance” in the Lords, with many
Tory peers expected to join Labour and
crossbench peers to try to delay the
measures.
Simon Coveney, the Irish foreign
minister, warned Johnson against using
Northern Ireland to woo his party’s
right. “If divisions within the Conserva-
tive Party impact on Ireland, because
the prime minister or the British gov-
ernment decides in order to maintain
support within the party that they have
to take a tougher line on Brexit, or on
the Northern Ireland protocol, well
then obviously [that] impacts on Ire-
land,” he said.
The prime minister tried to reset the
debate after Monday’s vote by telling
the cabinet that his “fundamental
Conservative instinct” was to allow
people to decide how to spend their
money. He said that “delivering tax
cuts” would help deliver “considerable
growth in employment and economic
progress” and urged ministers to cut
costs in their departments.
“We are able now to draw a line under
the issues that our opponents want to
talk about,” he told senior ministers.
“Over the course of the next few weeks,
I’m going to ask everybody to come for-
ward with ways in which we cut costs,
drive reform, and make sure that we
understand that in the end it is people
who have the best feel for how to spend
their own money rather than the gov-
ernment or the state.”
In a speech tomorrow Johnson will
say that he wants 2.5 million people
who rent housing association proper-
ties to have the chance to buy their
homes at a discount.
Under the existing right to buy policy,
tenants living in council houses can get
a discount of up to 70 per cent of the
market price, depending on how long
they have lived there, or £87,200, rising
to £116,200 in London. There is a less
generous scheme for renters of housing
association properties, with a discount
of between £9,000 and £16,000.
Johnson is also understood to like the
idea of building more modular homes.
Ikea, the furniture giant, has a housing
construction spin-off called BoKlok,
which has developed 12,000 modular
homes in Sweden and is building hun-
dreds of homes in Britain.Boris Johnson told his
ministers to cut costs in
their departments to allow
tax cuts and foster growth