Angry Conservatives turn on Boris Johnson after ‘bias’ spree Boris Johnson

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Rishi Sunak is under increasing pressure to stop Boris Johnson from standing as the Tory candidate in the upcoming election, with senior Tories accusing the former prime minister and his allies of a concerted attempt to derail government.

Amid anger at Johnson within the party over his explosive departure, in which he said he would only leave Westminster “for the time being” and accused a cross-party committee of “egregious bias”, there is now a concerted push among senior Conservatives to ensure Johnson. He has no way back into the House of Commons for the foreseeable future.

One of the leading members of the 1922 Tory MPs committee, a former supporter of Johnson, said it was the clear view among his colleagues that he should be barred from standing for another Tory seat at the next election.

“The pantomime must end. It must be stopped by any means and the sooner the better,” said the senior official.

Another great close to Sunak who was supporting Johnson added: “The manner in which he has acted in insulting the proceedings of the House of Commons is disgraceful. He thinks he can only casually insult Parliament. If he is allowed to stand again he will continue to undermine the government.”

Michael Heseltine, the former Conservative deputy prime minister, wrote in The Observer that Johnson’s furious resignation and threat to come back “turned every feature of disaster into opportunity”.

Lord Heseltine says he should not be allowed to stand for the party again. He writes: “This is the main problem of Boris.” The words are designed to make his audience believe what they want to believe. There is no evidence of any discernible truth or sense of integrity.

“To me it is inconceivable that under the circumstances he could stand as a Conservative Member of Parliament again. It is up to the Conservative Central Office to confirm an official Tory nominee. There is no doubt that he will now go out into the world and make vast sums of money, and write history as he believes That it was done. But it wouldn’t have much to do with the reality of the mess he left behind.”

There was wild speculation in Westminster about Johnson’s next move, with some suggesting he might even try to stand in the Mid Bedfordshire by-election brought about by the resignation of Nadine Dorries, one of his strongest supporters. However, Tory sources dismissed the idea as uninitiated.

It comes as another close Johnson ally, Nigel Adams, caused a potentially damaging third election by announcing on Saturday that he would step down immediately. Sunak was already facing a by-election in Johnson’s seat of Uxbridge, which Labor is confident he will win, and the constituency of Durres, which the Liberal Democrats are targeting.

Some senior figures in Sunak’s team believe that the activities of a group of MPs who remain staunchly loyal to Johnson are designed to cause maximum disruption. “It’s Thelma and Louise’s moment,” said one minister, “they decide to get off the cliff together.”

Lord Heseltine: “It is inconceivable in the circumstances that Johnson could stand again as a Conservative Member of Parliament.” Photo: Peter Summers/Getty Images

Chris Bryant, Labor chair of the Commons Standards and Privileges Committee, who has withdrawn from the investigation into Johnson and Partigit, says the former prime minister could now face further sanctions over the manner of his announcement on Friday. He also wrote in the Observer, saying: “The Committee may additionally conclude that his attack on the Committee was itself a contempt for Parliament.” Bryant added that other penalties should be considered: “The least the House could do was to deny Johnson privileged access to Parliament, with a former MP’s pass, for life.”

Johnson resigned as an MP on Friday night after a ruling was sent to the Standards Committee, which was looking into whether he had misled MPs about Partigit’s party.

Members of the committee, which has a Conservative majority, are due to meet on Monday to finalize the report and publish it shortly after. It is understood that the report found that Johnson had misled MPs and recommended suspending the House of Commons for more than 10 days – a ban that could trigger a motion of no confidence that would lead to a by-election.

According to an Opinium poll conducted at the end of March, the majority of people said they believed Johnson should resign if the committee ruled against him for misleading MPs about Partygate. More than two-thirds (69%) said they believed he should resign, while 64% thought he was lying in his testimony to the committee – something he strongly denies.

And party figures on Saturday insisted the overwhelming response from MPs was frustration with Johnson’s behaviour. Conservative MPs are furious that the departure of Johnson and his allies will torpedo Sunak’s attempts to restore order in the party. One of them said, “His opponents will not let him lie, so the damage to the party will be enormous.” “They will not allow Rishi to succeed.”

Morale among the Tories plummeted due to the new bout of infighting. Forty-four MPs have already announced that they will not run in the upcoming elections. Johnson’s seat at Uxbridge, which gained a majority of just 7,000 at the last election, looks likely to fall into the hands of Labour.

The Liberal Democrats have already launched their attack on Dorries’s Mid Bedfordshire seat, which has a majority of 25,000. However, Liberal Democrat officials have said they need to secure a smaller swing than some of its other successes in recent by-elections. They started a campaign on Saturday and printed 40,000 flyers to distribute to voters.

Some of those who worked with Johnson said they could not see a way back for him within the next five years. “It’s over,” said a former ally. “Obviously never say never, but he’s gone. He always wants to maintain that he’s a prince over water. But it’s much more difficult to be a prince over water without a position in parliament. His supporters are leaving. He can only get 20 single votes against [Northern Ireland] Britain’s exit from the European Union. This is just a way to avoid revealing the weakness of his position.”

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