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Tory rebels tell Boris Johnson he must change after massive Plan B revolt

Tory rebels tell Boris Johnson he must change after massive Plan B revolt

Boris Johnson has been warned he needs to change after the Prime Minister was hit by the biggest backbench revolt of his premiership.

A total of 99 Conservative MPs on Tuesday night opposed Mr Johnson’s plan to introduce Covid passes. The passes mean proof of vaccine or a negative test will be needed to enter nightclubs and larger venues from Wednesday.

Although the move - part of a package of Plan B measures to stem the spread of the Omicron variant - was passed by MPs by 369 to 126 thanks to support from the Labour Party, the scale of the rebellion was far larger than predicted and was one of the biggest any Tory Prime Minister has faced.

On Wednesday morning Conservative rebels took to the airwaves to fire further warning shots at the Prime Minister who could face another major blow on Thursday with the Tories fighting to hold the safe seat of North Shropshire in a crucial by-election.

Mark Harper, chief whip in Theresa May’s previous Conservative administration, told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “What I said yesterday and what I continue to say is I think what should happen is he should act differently.

“What I am calling for is for him to change how he operates so Parliament is properly involved and we have a proper debate in this country about how we are going to deal with this virus.

“This was a bit of a test.I don’t think its sustainable every time we have a variant of concern, we know Covid is going to be with us forever, we can’t respond every single time immediately going into emergency mode and shutting down chunks of the economy, people’s lives.”

Despite Mr Johnson making a personal appeal to his backbenchers to back the Covid measures an hour before the vote, Conservatives from across the party defied him, including his newest MP, Louie French who won his seat in the Old Bexley and Sidcup by-election just two weeks ago.

The result led to speculation that the Prime Minister could now face a leadership challenge in the coming months after a torrid period for the Government fighting claims over unlawful Christmas parties last year and sleaze allegations.

Christopher Chope, Tory MP for Christchurch, told LBC: “Certainly the authority of the Prime Minister has obviously been damaged by this but I don’t think irreparably and I hope he will take the forthcoming break as an opportunity to in a sense take fresh guard and think through what we are about in the Conservative Party. We should be standing up for principles of freedom and responsibility.

“He has had a period of bad form, he should go back and prepare and learn what he is really about and take fresh guard when he comes back in January. I would look to be seeing Boris’s blue blood, a conviction politician who believes in freedom and individual responsibility. And somebody who believes in a smaller state than a larger one, lower taxes rather than higher taxes.”

Another senior Tory MP, Damian Green, told Mr Johnson he should recall Parliament if he needed to introduce even tougher Covid restrictions after MPs break up for their Christmas recess on Thursday.

Mr Green said: “We should all be aware that it’s possible they will need to come back with tougher restrictions if some of the more apocalyptic warnings do come true then we may be facing more restrictions. I will want to know they are going to be effective and they have been approved by Parliament.

“If over that period the Government wants to introduce any new measures it would be proper and very sensible for the Government to bring Parliament back to do that so that we can see the democratically elected house of this country has had its say in that.”

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps defended Mr Johnson saying the Prime Minister had shown “the leadership” which was helping the UK to be the most vaccinated of major economies.

“This isn’t easy, there’s no manual or instruction book for dealing with Coronavirus, quite rightly if we don’t act or take precautionary measures and things didn’t go well with Omicron then people will say why didn’t you act sooner. It’s always going to be difficult and that is governing I am afraid.”

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