Priti Patel’s tribute to Boris Johnson amid criticism from Tory leadership

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The former Home Secretary was one of the keynote speakers at the launch of a new grassroots movement, the Conservative Democratic Organization (CDO).

Created by supporters of Mr Johnson, the group wants to empower party members and criticizes the way Rishi Sunak was appointed leader.

In a video message shown to the sparsely populated room at the Bournemouth International Center on Saturday, Mr Johnson thanked CDO members for continuing to campaign for freedom and democracy.

A video message from Boris Johnson is played during the Conservative Democratic Organization conference at the Bournemouth International Center (Andrew Matthews/PA)

In her speech, Ms Patel said the Conservative Party had not covered itself in glory over the past year, adding: In fact some parts of Westminster and its colleagues have been more successful in damaging our party than the opposition, even the left. the campaign groups, the public service that we all struggle with day in and day out.

And even, I’m afraid, some in the media who want to distort us and complicate our lives.

We have seen, as we have discussed today, the ousting of a democratically elected, in fact, our most successful Prime Minister since Margaret Thatcher.

Ms Patel described Mr Johnson as the man who delivered Brexit and the person who delivered on peoples priorities.

In what was seen as a thinly veiled attack on the Prime Minister, Mr Sunak, she added: I say this for an important reason: to be democratically elected is important.

It’s important for us at the grassroots of the party, but it’s also important to reflect that colleagues at Westminster, in making the changes that took place last year, also turned their backs on the membership and effectively broke that golden thread in terms of democracy from the bottom of the party to the top.

And we have to rebuild that.

On the local elections, which saw the Conservative Party lose more than 1,000 councilors and control of 48 councils in total, Ms Patel said: If the center of the party spent more time with us, listening, engaging, then I think it’s fair to say that we wouldn’t even have seen over 1,000 of our friends and colleagues lose their seats in recent local elections and dozens of councils slipping out of Tory control.

Nadine Dorries delivers a speech at the Conservative Democratic Organization conference at the Bournemouth International Center (Andrew Matthews/PA)

The group is backed by Tory peer and donor Lord Cruddas and organized by Brexiteer David Campbell Bannerman, with former ministers Nadine Dorries and Jacob Rees-Mogg also speaking at the event.

The organization has repeatedly insisted it is not focused on Mr Johnson’s return, but conference speakers included many of his most prominent supporters.

Ms Dorries told the conference that we were drifting and we no longer had that inspirational leader and those visionary policies that people could go and vote for.

She added: We are not articulating the vision and the future of the country and how we are reconnecting with Britain.

We need to let people know what we stand for and what we want to introduce in terms of policies that will improve their lives.

In an interview with GB News Dan Wootton at the end of the conference, Ms Patel refrained from suggesting that Mr Johnson should return as Tory leader.

She said the party owed Mr Johnson a debt of gratitude for the success of the 2019 election, as she hailed the former leader as an electoral asset.

In fact, I hope very much, really, he’s a great activist, he’s a great figure, a big box office in the base. We will need him to come back and re-energize and re-energize the base.

Priti Patel delivers a speech at the Conservative Democratic Organization conference at the Bournemouth International Center (Andrew Matthews/PA)

But pressed on a potential leadership bid, she said: I’ll be very candid. I don’t think it’s going to do us the world any good at all. And partly because of everything audiences have seen in the past year.

The rally, which includes a gala dinner, is described as being for like-minded patriots who want to save our party and our country.

Edite Zadinane, a teacher from Maidenhead who traveled to Bournemouth to attend the event, told the PA news agency it was amazing to see so many like-minded people and she would like to see Mr Johnsons return as leader.

She said: I love Boris Johnson. We all make mistakes and I think the mistakes he made are forgivable.

Gordon Newell, from Chelsea, London, said: Boris has a better chance than Rishi Sunak of winning the election. Unfortunately, the collateral damage inside the Conservative Party would be epic.

He said he did not like the leadership of the Conservative Party, adding: We should know the direction of the party and what we are campaigning for. If I’m going to put my local MP back in power, I need to know what he’s going to do. It is in fact a question of giving back the mandate, the strategic mandate to the members.

Geoff Townley, from Titchfield, Hampshire, told PA: I don’t think there are any better suitors (than Boris Johnson).

Jacob Rees-Mogg approaches to deliver a speech at the Conservative Democratic Organization conference at the Bournemouth International Center (Andrew Matthews/PA)

Some of the policies discussed at the conference included reducing the tax burden, managing the migration crisis and providing benefits for people who voted Conservative in the 2019 general election.

Ahead of the event, Conservative Defense Committee chairman Tobias Ellwood, who represents Bournemouth East, criticized his party colleagues for stoking divisions, writing in The Times: A drag anchor from a right-wing caucus is in our ranks, and he has already canceled any prospect of victory in 2024.

Meanwhile, after delivering a speech in central London on Saturday morning, Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer said: I’ve always said that one of Sunak’s weaknesses is that he hasn’t really won a race to be the leader of his party. The problem with this is that he has no mandate for change.

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