Rebel Tories Warn Boris Johnson Faces Defeat on Virus Powers
Rebel Tories Warn Johnson Faces Defeat Over U.K. Virus Powers
(Bloomberg) -- Boris Johnson will try to regain control of his coronavirus strategy after a revolt from his own Conservative colleagues and a series of government gaffes knocked his plans off course.
The U.K. prime minister was warned by Conservative lawmakers that he faces a damaging defeat on his Covid regulations Wednesday if he fails to give Parliament more powers to scrutinize the rules before they come into force. The government has countered that it must be able to act quickly and implement new rules where necessary to contain the virus.
The rebellion gathered support after Johnson himself made a public blunder Tuesday and was forced to apologize for wrongly explaining the government’s own pandemic restrictions.
The premier will hold a press conference Wednesday with his two top pandemic advisers to spell out the latest data as the disease spreads again across the U.K. Daily cases hit a record high Tuesday, with 7,143 recorded -- up from 4,044 on Monday -- sparking fears that current restrictions are failing to hold back a second wave of infections.
Johnson is expected to face a crucial vote later Wednesday in which members of Parliament will decide whether to approve the continuation of the government’s emergency virus powers. Business Secretary Alok Sharma said the government is listening to the Tory rebels’ concerns, though he stopped short of pledging a compromise.
Political Calculus
“What colleagues are asking for is whether there is some way of decisions being made, whether they can be involved,” Sharma told BBC radio on Wednesday. “And I know that’s something we are looking at in government.” He later told Times Radio the government is examining whether MPs can be provided with Covid data on a district basis and get greater access to ministers.
Former Conservative cabinet minister Mark Harper said more than 100 fellow Tories were prepared to vote against the government Wednesday if they failed to offer a compromise to allow Parliament more of a say over Covid-19 restrictions. That would be more than enough to defeat Johnson in a vote.
Talks between government officials and the rebels are due to continue during the day, and Harper said he was “hopeful” that an agreement would be reached. Conservative MP Steve Baker tweeted that rebels will meet with the government’s chief whip Mark Spencer on Wednesday morning to try and hammer out a deal.
“I don’t want to be in the business of forcing the government but what I would say is this is a fork in the road,” Baker told BBC radio. “Either later today we will face a reasonable offer which we can accept, back down -- and gladly -- or we will end up that these members of Parliament are not going to go away and we will have to keep on battling on.”
Significant Setback
If the rebels were to defeat Johnson in a vote Wednesday, it would represent a damaging political setback on the most important issue facing his government. That would be a serious blow to the prime minister’s authority just nine months after he won a large majority in last year’s election.
The prime minister faces another rebellion in the House of Lords over his plan to rewrite parts of the Brexit divorce deal. The draft legislation cleared its final stage in the House of Commons on Tuesday after Johnson bowed to pressure from rebels in his own party and offered lawmakers a veto on whether to use the bill’s most controversial powers. Ministers are bracing for defeat in the upper house, where the government doesn’t have a majority.
Harper’s warning on the coronavirus legislation Tuesday came after the prime minister, live on television, wrongly explained the new social-distancing rules coming into force in northeast England that night. Johnson later tweeted: “Apologies, I misspoke today.”
Gillian Keegan, minister for skills, had earlier said in a radio interview that she did not know the exact rules for the region. Johnson’s mistake could hardly have come at a more sensitive moment, as growing numbers of Conservatives question the government’s coronavirus strategy.
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