MPs 'at stage two of ousting' Boris Johnson PM says Kuenssberg
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Next Tuesday will be a turning point for the Prime Minister as MPs will be tasked with voting for new restricting measures on top of the ones introduced earlier this week. However, inside the Government itself, reports from the Telegraph showed that as many as six parliamentary private secretaries disagree with implementing new restrictions.
The MPs could even resign from their position and go back to being backbenchers while considerably undermining Boris Johnson’s image.
According to a WhatsApp message sent to Tory MPs on Friday, the Government will put to the vote one by one new policies on face masks, vaccine passports and mandatory vaccines for NHS workers.
Compulsory Covid vaccine passports are supposed to launch at 6am just a day after the vote next Wednesday.
A U-turn on self-isolation for those who have been “pinged” after being in contact with someone infected might also be put to the vote with daily testing replacing the compulsory isolation.
In December 2020, a defying group of 55 Tory MPs had already voted against a restrictive tiered system to slow down the spread of the virus in the country.
However, there may be more rebelling MPs as The Telegraph reports between 60 and 80 Conservative MPs could vote against the most unpopular measures such as the vaccine passports.
Mark Harper, chairman of the Covid Recovery Group of lockdown-sceptic Conservative MPs, said in a statement on Friday: “The Government still has not set out any evidence to support the ‘Plan B’ measures.
“The Government has also not set out an exit strategy from these restrictions.
“Given that Covid and variants will be here forever, it is not sustainable to have seasonal on/off restrictions forever.”
The group will hold a meeting before the Tuesday votes to consider the latest data.
With many Conservative MPs already expected to vote against regulations on masks, home working and vaccine passports, and many more now vowing to abstain from Tuesday’s vote, the Prime Minister could be left relying on Labour support to win.
“The whips will be doing a lot of work this weekend,” one Tory MP told The Guardian.
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“It’s all about saving the PM’s blushes.”
“The mood on the backbenches is really angry,” another backbencher said.
“It’s going to be quite a sizeable rebellion.
“I think the Government will only get this through with Labour votes.
“It’s a bit like the Theresa May Brexit days – which is somewhere I never really wanted to go back to.”
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