Inside Politics: PM’s plan to save premiership and new partygate report

Reports say Johnson attended defence aide’s leaving do as he plans raft of announcements to quell discontent on back benches, writes Matt Mathers

Monday 17 January 2022 08:23 GMT

(REUTERS)

As Tory MPs travel back to Westminster following a weekend at home speaking to their constituents, Boris Johnson will get a sense of just how much anger there is among voters over recent partygate reports. The prime minister, meanwhile, is said to have drawn up plans to save his premiership with a series of policy announcements, dubbed ‘operation red meat’, expected in the days and weeks ahead designed to quell discontent among back bench MPs calling for him to be ousted. Reports say the PM is also planning to throw a number of top officials under the bus to save his own skin. A new report today says Johnson attended another party before Christmas in 2020.

Inside the bubble

First up is Home Office questions at 2.30pm, followed by any urgent questions or statements. Later, the main business will see MPs work their way through the remaining stages of the Elections Bill. Conservative MP Siobhan Baillie has an adjournment debate on the experiences of midwives in the NHS.

Coming up:

– Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi on BBC Radio 4 Today at 8.10am

– Shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell on Times Radio Breakfast at 8.20am

Daily Briefing

MANIC MONDAY: Another Monday hangover for the PM, who wakes up to a new report that he attended a lockdown-breaking party. According to the Daily Mirror, Johnson attended defence adviser Captain Steve Higham’s leaving party “for a few minutes” in which he gave a speech “to thank him for his service”. The newspaper said a “small number of No 10 staff briefly said goodbye”. Although the exact date of the leaving do is not revealed, it was reportedly held in the run-up to Christmas, when London was under Covid rules. No 10 and the MoD did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Oliver Dowden, the cabinet minister and Conservative Party chairman, told the BBC yesterday that Johnson is set to overhaul his Downing Street operation in a desperate attempt to “address the underlying culture” that led to lockdown boozing. As part of ‘Operation Save Big Dog ’, first reported by The Independent, Martin Reynolds, the PM’s principal private secretary who sent the “bring your own booze” invitation to No 10 colleagues, is expected to be forced out along with his deputy. Dan Rosenfield, Johnson’s chief of staff, is also rumoured to be among those facing the chop.

AUNTIE ATTACK: One of the policies making up ‘Operation Red Meat’ to appease mutinous MPs calling for Johnson to be ousted is a plan to scrap the BBC licence fee at the next opportunity if the Tories are still in power. Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, unveiled a £2bn budget cut for the public broadcaster, saying that this year’s funding announcement “will be the last”. The BBC’s charter comes up for renewal in 2027, and Dorries made clear on Sunday that she wants to use that opportunity to abolish the fee. “The days of the elderly being threatened with prison sentences and bailiffs knocking on doors, are over,” she said. Lucy Powell, Labour’s shadow culture secretary, said: “The cat is out of the bag. The prime minister thinks those reporting on his rule-breaking should pay consequences, whilst he gets off free.” Today’s i says the plans, which also include putting the military in charge of policing the Channel, will not be enough to satisfy angry Tory MPs as it brands the strategy ‘Operation dead meat’.

COST OF LIVING LATEST: Opposition parties continue to put pressure on the government over rising energy costs as temperatures dip below 0 in vast swathes of the country this week and a new poll shows a majority of conservative voters support a windfall tax on oil and gas companies to fund a relief package for families struggling to pay the bills. Seventy-five per cent of Tory voters told Savanta ComRes they would support the levy to fund households struggling to afford rising energy prices. And 71 per cent of the general population supports the move too. Opposition parties are pushing for the policy, but the government has so far rejected the idea. Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said action was needed immediately to provide financial relief as people grapple with their winter bills.“The government needs to get a grip on this crisis before it’s too late,” he said. “Every day sees thousands more energy bills arrive through letterboxes, bringing real despair and anguish to families struggling to make ends meet.” New research by the Resolution Foundation, which makes the front of the Times, says 6.3 million households across the UK will find their energy bills unaffordable when the price cap is lifted in April.

CHILD ASYLUM FEARS: Ministers have been accused of “washing their hands of” child asylum seekers after it emerged that child refugees are being forced to share rooms and even beds with adults they do not know as increasing numbers are incorrectly placed in accommodation meant for over-18s by the government. Hundreds of unaccompanied male and female asylum seekers who say they are children have been discovered in hotels intended for adults in recent months, with many fearful of leaving their rooms and some driven to suicidal ideation, while others have run away. In one case, an Ethiopian girl believed to be 16 who said she was repeatedly raped on her journey to the UK was placed in a mixed-gender hotel with adult men after being judged by Home Office staff to be 23. The Home Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On the record

“It is untrue that the Prime Minister was warned about the event in advance. As he said earlier this week he believed implicitly that this was a work event.”

A No 10 spokesperson refutes claim that PM was warned about BYOB party.