Boris Johnson will face Parliament for the first time since surviving a confidence vote, with pressure mounting to spell out how he plans to cut taxes to win back support from the 41% of Tory MPs who did not back him.
Mr Johnson’s allies can be expected to stage a public show of support when he steps up for his weekly Prime Minister’s Questions session.
But tensions are running high after 148 of the 359 Conservative MPs refused to support him in the vote of confidence.
The range of issues which have caused discontent in the Tory ranks means there is no single response the Prime Minister can make to win over doubters.
While it was the Sue Gray report into lockdown parties in Downing Street which prompted the confidence vote, it also revealed deep unhappiness among MPs on different wings of the party across a range of issues.
They include promised legislation to override the Northern Ireland Protocol with the EU, as well as concerns over the high levels of tax and spending amid reports that rebel MPs could start staging “vote strikes” on policies they oppose.
In an attempt to rebuild his standing in the party, Mr Johnson has pledged further tax cuts and is under pressure from MPs and ministers to show how he can ease the burden on households and businesses.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said he would “like to see us do more on tax cuts”.
He acknowledged the pandemic had resulted in “challenges to the public finances” but told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “I would like to see cuts where they’re possible.
“And I know that this is something the Government is taking very seriously and I know that it’s something that the Chancellor will look at.”
After Mr Johnson insisted on Tuesday it remained a “fundamental Conservative instinct” to cut taxes, Chancellor Rishi Sunak used a speech to the Onward think tank to reaffirm his intention to reduce taxes for business in the autumn.
Meanwhile, The Daily Telegraph reported that allies of the Prime Minister were urging him to replace Mr Sunak with former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt.
Mr Hunt – who was runner-up to Mr Johnson in the 2019 leadership election and is expected to stand again if there is another contest – infuriated some in the Cabinet when he announced he would be voting for “change” in the confidence vote.
However, the Telegraph said proponents of the idea argue that bringing back his rival into the Cabinet would help stabilise Mr Johnson’s leadership, heal rifts within the party while binding Mr Hunt to the Prime Minister’s agenda.
Under current party rules, Mr Johnson is safe now from another formal confidence vote, although the backbench 1922 Committee could potentially rewrite the regulations if there is renewed pressure for change.
Mr Javid told Times Radio: “I think most people would think if you sort of changed the rules it would be grossly unfair, it would be the wrong thing to do. So I wouldn’t support that.”
At the moment, there would appear to be no appetite among the rebels for another immediate move against the Prime Minister.
However, he has two tricky by-elections coming up in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, and in Tiverton and Honiton, Devon, amid warnings they could fall to the Labour and the Liberal Democrats, respectively.
Such a double defeat could be the catalyst for a fresh bout of soul-searching within the party, leading to renewed demands for change at the top.
Despite the speculation, one Cabinet ally – Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng – said he was “pretty confident” that Mr Johnson would still lead the party into the next general election.
“I’m pretty confident he will but lots of things happen in politics, I’m 100% behind him,” he told Channel 4 News on Tuesday.
The Prime Minister’s suitability for the role was questioned by former Spectator colleague Petronella Wyatt – in 2004, Mr Johnson was sacked from the Tory frontbench for lying about an affair with her.
She told ITV’s Good Morning Britain the questions over his leadership would be difficult for him as he is “surprisingly thin-skinned” and “has a very soft core – I think this will be absolute hell for him in private”.
She added: “The qualities that made him a very good journalist and also a TV personality are not the qualities you need in a Prime Minister because it’s a hard slog, and he never liked detail.
“I wouldn’t say he was lazy, but being PM does involve a 14-hour day which isn’t really him.”
