Influential Tory MP warns Boris Johnson to ditch Covid curbs or face problem

An influential Conservative MP has warned Boris Johnson that he faces a problem to his management until he scraps all remaining coronavirus restrictions on the finish of this month and vows they won’t return.

Former chief whip Mark Harper, the chair of the lockdown-sceptic Covid Restoration Group of Tory backbenchers, warned that “prime ministers are on a performance-related contract” and that MPs are asking themselves whether or not Mr Johnson is the best-placed chief to assist them retain their seats on the subsequent election.

He instructed the Monetary Instances that the prime minister could be in hassle after Could’s native elections until he has proven that he can change his strategy.

Mr Harper mentioned it was time to simply accept that Covid-19 will turn into endemic within the UK and to concentrate on remedies, the vaccination of hesitant folks and the creation of particular wards in hospitals, whereas ruling out any additional controls on social and financial life.

“In some unspecified time in the future you’ve bought to say, no matter occurs, no matter variants flip up, we’re not going to reply by shutting down components of the nation,” he instructed the FT. “That’s not a sustainable place.”

Mr Harper – who stood in opposition to Johnson for the management in 2019 – mentioned that if the PM makes an attempt to increase Plan B restrictions past the scheduled evaluate date of 26 January, he’ll face a insurrection bigger than the one seen in December when 99 Tories opposed Covid passes.

“The issue is he form of desires to agree with us, then he says he desires to maintain restrictions in reserve or received’t rule them out,” Harper mentioned. “That’s turning into an unsustainable place.

“If I used to be operating a hospitality enterprise I might be very nervous about investing, rising my enterprise, taking any dangers as a result of I actually don’t know about what’s going to occur.”

If Tories do badly within the Could elections and proceed to path Labour within the polls, Conservative MPs will ask themselves which potential chief is finest capable of assist them maintain their seats, mentioned Mr Harper.

And he added: “Conservative MPs have requested themselves that query prior to now and determined they should do one thing about it. Prime ministers are on a performance-related contract.”