By Ben Kerrigan-
Boris Johnson’s leadership position as prime minister could face a challenge if the coronavirus lockdown in England lasts into late spring, a backbench Conservative MP has warned.
Mp Steve Baker(pictured) circulated a message to fellow Tories in the Covid Recovery Group (CRG), made up of an estimated 70 MPs who are sceptical about lockdown measures,
Mr Baker told fellow MPs it was “imperative you equip the chief whip today with your opinion that debate will become about the PM’s leadership if the government does not set out a clear plan for when our full freedoms will be restored, with a guarantee that this strategy will not be used again next winter.”
Baker, the deputy chair of the CRG, wrote: “Certain government scientists have said that the current lockdown could last until late spring. There is no reason to think there will be any real resistance in cabinet to the argument for greater and longer and more draconian restrictions on the public.
“This could be a disaster. Nothing seems more certain to break the public than giving hope before taking it away, and doing it repeatedly.”
He said the government “has adopted a strategy devoid of any commitment to liberty without any clarification about when our most basic freedoms will be restored and with no guarantee that they will never be taken away again”.
He added: “People are telling me they are losing faith in our Conservative party leadership because they are not standing up for our values as a party. If we continue forward with a strategy that hammers freedom, hammers the private sector, hammers small business owners and hammers the poor, inevitably the prime minister’s leadership will be on the table: we strongly do not want that after all we have been through as a country.”
Mr Baker’s comments is similar to the findings of a research conducted by The Eye Of Media.Com yet to be published, and which reveals plummeting trust in the government’s handling of the pandemic.
Some of the findings were being discussed behind the scenes only yesterday between this publication, The Guardian, BBC, and Evening Standard, in relation to public opinion about the pandemic. Different groups of people in different parts of the country have a different take, but there appears to a wide dissatisfaction about the government’s handling, with some sections feeling it is necessary.
Majority
Boris Johnson currently has a majority in parliament, and could most likely see of any opposition to his position. As much as the prime minister must never take his support base forgranted, he would may have the confidence that those who supporters of his who voted for the lockdown to be legal, will back him all the way come what may.
A leadership challenge can only seriously be contemplated if the challenger thinks he has enough support to match that of the prime minister on the handling of the pandemic. Downing Street has been responding to advice from its scientific bodies assigned to work with the bodies, but may need to keep his backbenchers assured that the present lockdown is necessary at the moment, and will be subject to frequent review.
In a CRG statement following the imposition of the current lockdown, the group’s chair, the former chief whip Mark Harper, praised the Covid vaccination programme but said the government should set out how this “begins to translate into a return to normal life for us all and show a clear exit strategy – a route back to freedom”.
Despite the message, Baker later tweeted his complete support for Johnson to remain as prime minister. He wrote: “What this country needs is the complete success of Boris Johnson, with his excellent EU deal, a successful vaccination programme and a #Road2Recovery back to freedom. I am clear Boris is the only person to lead us out of these difficulties and I support him in that endeavour.”