With the prime minister facing a Brexit split in a matter of days and a growing uprising among party supporters following last week’s humiliating vote of confidence, hotelier Sir Rocco Forte has said he will “not tolerate” the direction Johnson is taking. in the party. He told the Observer that Johnson had mishandled the Partygate scandal and had been “severely damaged” by Monday’s vote of confidence, in which 148 lawmakers opposed the prime minister. However, in a sign of wider despair over the Johnson administration’s performance, Forte said it was simply “not a conservative government”. “He was elected to win Brexit and win elections, which he did, and he is probably the only person who could do it the way he did,” he said. “But those of us who supported him expected him to build a capable team around him, as he did when he was mayor of London, and to govern effectively. This just has not happened. And the reality of this government is that it is not a conservative government. Boris Johnson with billionaire John Caudwell in 2014. The founder of Phones4U wants more investment from the government. Photo: David M Benett / Getty Images “If you run a business, you do not feel that this government is behind you in any way. This is supposed to be a Conservative government. Unless he changes his mind and does something about it – something that does not seem likely because he has suggested that he do all the things that should be done already – I do not think people on the right of the party, like me, will tolerate it. this. “If I do not see a change, I do not feel I can support him in the future. I supported a conservative government. “If I do not see a conservative government, what is the point of supporting it?” Forte handed over .000 100,000 to Johnson for the last election campaign. Worryingly for Johnson, other donors are losing faith – but there are conflicting views on how the prime minister should fix things. John Cowdwell, the billionaire founder of Phones4U who gave the Tories 500 500,000 before the last election, did not say whether Johnson should leave, but called for more investment. “Instead of being prudent, we need to borrow on an unprecedented scale and invest wisely, productively and profitably,” he said, noting renewable energy, infrastructure, industry grants and apprenticeships. It comes as former Conservative leader Chris Patten said the party was in the hands of the “Johnson cult”, with cabinet ministers reluctant to turn to him. The party was in the middle of a “very long nervous breakdown”. Lord Patten added: “We have no conservative government at all, but an English nationalist party that is populist, but – fatally – without being popular.” Concerns between donors and the majestic are another sign that, despite relative calm among lawmakers from Monday’s vote, Johnson remains on unstable ground. There is already a controversy over Brexit. On Monday, the government will announce its plans to effectively circumvent the Northern Ireland Protocol – part of the Brexit deal with the EU that governs the region. As the government tries to reassure lawmakers that the proposals will not rekindle tensions over Brexit, the Observer has been informed by several sources that the government bill still includes sections that bypass the protocol agreed with the EU – a move that Critics say it is illegal and will spark an uprising. Chris Patten, the former president of the Conservatives, says the party is in the hands of a “Johnson cult”. Photo: Murdo Macleod / The Observer A Conservative source said: “The government is lying to its own MPs and the media about the illegal focus of this bill. “The Tory party is falling asleep to a repeat of the Owen Paterson and Partygate vote – once again putting the party in full support of the rule of law.” It goes without saying that basic legal advice was not presented to the ministerial committee overseeing the plans. The Observer has proven that Thomas D Grant, an academic lawyer who worked at the State Department during the Trump administration and has written legal articles supporting a tough Brexit, is advising on the bill. Whitehall sources said that while he was giving advice, he was not a central part of the legal team. There have been frantic legal and political negotiations between Johnson, his cabinet and lawmakers last week. Johnson was pressured to adopt a hard line and effectively circumvent the protocol. It creates an important flashpoint for Johnson. Some Brexit MPs, including some in the European Research Group (ERG) who have caused persistent problems for Theresa May, could withdraw their support if the plans are seen as too weak. However, the moderate Tories also threaten to revolt if they consider the law to be in violation of international law. An ERG source laughed at the idea that they had “a Machiavellian conspiracy to take control of the party” holding Johnson as a ransom. They said it was very important to ensure that the European Court of Justice did not oversee UK law. There have already been indications that as the immediate impact of the Covid pandemic subsides, the Brexit conflict is reopening. Mark Jenkinson, a Tory MP from Workington, told the Daily Mail that “leftists, lords and lovers” showed that they still did not accept the result of the referendum. The paper also claimed in an essay that “a Remainer counter-revolution has begun” and that Johnson’s replacement could lead to the overthrow of Brexit.
