Boris Johnson’s unpopularity among MPs should worry him

Monday’s performance was better than the last time the prime minister was seen in the Commons, but Sean O’Grady argues that the prime minister cannot ignore the fact his standing among fellow elected representatives must improve fast

The PM addressing questions on Afghanistan in the Commons on Monday (UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor)

The House of Commons, for all its faults, still has its uses. Three weeks ago, the prime minister endured one of the worst days of his premiership when he had to go to the house to defend his policy and the conduct of the foreign secretary in the immediate aftermath of the evacuation of Afghanistan. It featured genuinely impassioned speeches from the likes of Tom Tugendhat, who served in the campaign and has proved a sharp and well-informed critic of the prime minister, and many more deeply damaging criticisms. Although there was no question of his resigning, though Dominic Raab remains vulnerable, it was a moment when his own party visibly and vocally attacked him. Trying to hide behind the tributes to the armed forces, he sounded risible. He had virtually no support from his own side, where he could normally count on at least a few sycophants and job seekers getting up to congratulate him on a good job well done. Boris Johnson could offer parliament nothing but excuses and evasions, and they were not having it. It was a poor performance, even by his own sloppy standards, and he did not rise to the occasion. It was not his finest hour, and far from it.

On Monday, perhaps because of the slight passage of time, and some rest and recreation, tempers had cooled and the prime minister, mostly, caught the mood of the House much better in addressing the question of Afghanistan. If he was just as bored by the futile exercise this time as last – because, after all, the war is lost – he did much better at disguising it. His most implacable and influential enemies on the Conservative backbenches, such as Tugendhat, Tobias Ellwood and Johnny Mercer, confined themselves to asking practical questions about foreign policy and rescuing Afghan refugees. Theresa May resisted the temptation to ridicule him. When angrily challenged by a Labour MP about refugees being ejected from air transports out of Kabul the prime minister was meekness itself. He thanked local authorities for helping, and implied some should do more. The leader of the opposition made the right points, but failed to skewer the prime minister. Johnson survived in a less stormy session.

Overall, though, the last few months have not been kind to Johnson, with electoral setbacks, ministerial embarrassments, Brexit getting steadily undone, and the Covid crisis resolutely not over. The public mood, and especially among those Labour voters who “lent” Johnson their vote in 2019, is much more important to the fortunes of the Conservatives than whatever happens in the Commons, and that mostly goes for Johnson himself. However, his unpopularity among MPs should worry him; for a party leader, like a football manager, it is a good idea not to “lose the dressing room”.