Boris Johnson tried to win over backbenchers by ceding more power on Friday as No 10 insiders told The Independent that the increasingly isolated prime minister was becoming “unpredictable and erratic”.
In the latest stage of his desperate bid to stave off a mutiny by Tory MPs, Mr Johnson announced the creation of backbench committees to advise on government policy and promised he would order cabinet ministers to take their views seriously.
But with the resignation of a fifth key aide and a further MP publicly declaring no confidence in him, some supporters of the PM were urging him to short-circuit plots to remove him by calling a vote on his future himself.
The PM tried to put a positive gloss on the shock clearout of senior officials in a pep talk to remaining staff, in which he quoted The Lion King as he told them: “Change is good.”
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UK news in pictures 7 February 2022 Dog walkers enjoy the early morning sunrise at Tynemouth Beach in North Tyneside, on the north east coast of England
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UK news in pictures 6 February 2022 A Leicester City invades the pitch as Nottingham Forest celebrate scoring their side’s third goal of the game during the Emirates FA Cup fourth round match at the City Ground, Nottingham
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UK news in pictures 5 February 2022 Stadium staff remove a flare from the pitch during the Emirates FA Cup fourth round match at Selhurst Park
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UK news in pictures 4 February 2022 "The Nuba Survival" is a five-metre-tall statue of two skeletons locked in an embrace in Checkendon, Oxfordshire. The statue was created by local artist John Buckley
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UK news in pictures 3 February 2022 Kew horticulturists attending to the ‘Rising sun’ display at the Kew Orchid Festival: Costa Rica, at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, west London
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UK news in pictures 2 February 2022 Protesters campaign against corruption in London
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UK news in pictures 1 February 2022 Lorries queue for the Port of Dover in Kent, as the Dover TAP is enforced due to the high volume of lorries waiting to cross the Channel
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UK news in pictures 31 January 2022 Nelson Beaumont-Laurencia applies finishing touches to a sculpture of a tiger, commissioned by Manchester Business Improvement District to celebrate the Chinese New Year, is unveiled in St Ann’s Square
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UK news in pictures 30 January 2022 A house on Overhill terrace in Gateshead, lost its roof on 29 January after strong winds from Storm Malik battered northern parts of the UK
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UK news in pictures 29 January 2022 A newly painted bicycle sign is seen on the middle of the road at Westminster Bridge, as the new Highway Code rules start today together with giving pedestrians priority at junctions
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UK news in pictures 28 January 2022 School children take part in a rally in support of British Sign Language becoming a recognised language in the UK, outside the Houses of Parliament, Westminster, as the British Sign Language Private Members’ Bill, introduced by Rosie Cooper MP, reaches its second reading in the House
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UK news in pictures 27 January 2022 A rare six-week-old southern white rhino calf called Zawadi, explores her paddock for the first time at Africa Alive! in Lowestoft
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UK news in pictures 26 January 2022 British Prime Minister Boris Johnson jogs with his dog Dilyn, in London
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UK news in pictures 25 January 2022 A member of staff looks at Francis Bacon’s work ‘Second Version of Triptych 1944’ on display in the Francis Bacon: Man and Beast exhibition at the the Royal Academy of Arts in London
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UK news in pictures 24 January 2022 Rowers (front to back) Charlotte Irving, Kat Cordiner and Abby Johnston, on their way to shatter the world record for rowing across the Atlantic
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UK news in pictures 23 January 2022 A grey seal pup on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as the pupping season draws to a close at one of the UK’s most important sites for the mammals
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UK news in pictures 22 January 2022 Participants prepare to take part in the Crisis icebreaker cold water challenge at Tooting Bec Lido in London
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UK news in pictures 21 January 2022 Willesborough Windmill, a white smock mill built in 1869 is bathed in the morning sunshine as the moon sets behind in Ashford, Kent
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UK news in pictures 20 January 2022 A jet skier jumps the waves off the coast at Blyth in Northumberland
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UK news in pictures 19 January 2022 Britain’s Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, participate in a therapy session with individuals who have experienced the care system, during a visit to the Foundling Museum in London
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UK news in pictures 18 January 2022 Surfers enter the sea as the sun rises over Tynemouth on the North East coast
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UK news in pictures 17 January 2022 Bonhams’ Danny McIlwraith holds a Nigerian polycrome carved wood mask during a photocall for the sale of the Jim Lennon Collection at Bonhams in Edinburgh
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UK news in pictures 16 January 2022 The moon rises above the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth, Hampshire
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UK news in pictures 15 January 2022 Demonstrators outside Downing Street during a ‘Kill The Bill’ protest against The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill in London
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UK news in pictures 14 January 2022 Ecologist Emma Smart (left) and retired GP Dr Diana Warner outside HMP Bronzefield, in Surrey, following their release from the prison where Emma undertook a 26-day hunger strike during her incarceration. Ms Smart was sentenced in November, along with other members of Insulate Britain, to serve four months for breaking a High Court injunction by taking part in a blockade at junction 25 of the M25 motorway during the morning rush hour on 8 October last year
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UK news in pictures 13 January 2022 A TV presenter holds a copy of a newspaper outside 10 Downing Streetafter the Prime Minister apologised for attending a gathering of colleagues in the Number Ten garden in May 2020, while the UK was in strict lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic
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UK news in pictures 12 January 2022 Fitness guru Derrick Evans after receiving an MBE during an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle
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UK news in pictures 11 January 2022 A couple walk underneath an umbrella during wet weather on Westminster Bridge in central London
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UK news in pictures 10 January 2022 A jogger passes the Covid Memorial Wall in London
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UK news in pictures 9 January 2021 The sun rises over horses at Seaton Sluice in Northumberland
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UK news in pictures 8 January 2022 Riders compete during the Veterans Men's race at the UK Cyclo-Cross National Championships 2022 in Ardingly, south of London
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UK news in pictures 7 January 2022 A dog looks out of a car window at the wintry conditions in Killeshin, Co. Laois
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UK news in pictures 6 January 2022 People walk through frost and mist alongside a frozen lake during sunrise in Bushy Park, London
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UK news in pictures 5 January 2022 A skier jumps on the slopes at Allenheads in the Pennines to the north of Weardale in Northumberland
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UK news in pictures 4 January 2022 Freshly-fallen snow covers houses in Corbridge, near Hexham in Northumberland
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UK news in pictures 3 January 2022 Dean Morrison, 13, receives his Covid-19 vaccine from student nurse Anthony McLaughlin during a vaccination clinic at the Glasgow Central Mosque
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UK news in pictures 2 January 2022 Konastantinos Tsimikas of Liverpool with Chelsea’s Mason Mount during the Premier League match at Stamfrod Bridge
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UK news in pictures 1 January 2022 New Year’s Eve Lasers, drones and fireworks illuminate the sky in front of the Royal Naval College in Greenwich shortly after midnight in London
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UK news in pictures 31 December 2021 Competitors in fancy dress run across the Pennine tops near Haworth, West Yorkshire, in the annual Auld Lang Syne Fell race which attracts hundreds of runners every year
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UK news in pictures 30 December 2021 Sunrise at Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland
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UK news in pictures 29 December 2021 The Very Revd Dr Robert Willis, Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, looks at Becket, a six month old red-billed chough as he visits Wildwood Wildlife Park in Kent on the anniversary of the murder of Thomas Becket
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UK news in pictures 28 December 2021 Troops of the Household Cavalry are seen reflected in a puddle during the changing of the Queen’s Life Guard, on Horse Guards Parade, in central London
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UK news in pictures 27 December 2021 A pedestrian walks past a winter sale sign outside a John Lewis store on Oxford street in London
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UK news in pictures 26 December 2021 Riders take their bikes through the snow near Castleside, County Durham
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UK news in pictures 25 December 2021 Patrick Corkery wears a santa hat and beard as waves crash over him at Forty Foot near Dublin during a Christmas Day dip
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UK news in pictures 24 December 2021 People stand inside Kings Cross Station on Christmas Eve in London
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UK news in pictures 23 December 2021 Christmas shoppers fill the car park at Fosse Shopping Park in Leicester
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UK news in pictures 22 December 2021 The sun rises behind the stones as people gather for the winter solstice at Stonehenge.
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UK news in pictures 21 December 2021 People take part in a winter solstice swim at Portobello Beach in Edinburgh to mark the solstice and to witness the dawn after the longest night of the year
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UK news in pictures 20 December 2021 An auction employee displays poultry to buyers and sellers attending the Christmas Poultry Sale at York Auction Centre in Murton
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Recommended PM accused of running administration like ‘The Thick of It’ after delay to NHS plan Johnson under pressure after Starmer heckled by mob outside Parliament Keir Starmer swarmed by protesters shouting abuse and Jimmy Savile slurs
But one official said not all of those watching the cabinet room address by video link were impressed.
“He needs to show people he is serious, but then he can’t help himself,” said the No 10 insider. “Like with The Lion King, but also with ‘Operation Save Big Dog’ and the Peppa Pig madness.”
Downing Street denied that the prime minister was losing control of the situation, after 24 hours in which key ally Munira Mirza walked out in protest at his “scurrilous” attempt to blame Keir Starmer for the failure to prosecute paedophile Jimmy Savile, and cabinet colleagues Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid distanced themselves from the PM over the slur.
The PM’s official spokesperson said that the resignations of principal private secretary Martin Reynolds, chief of staff Dan Rosenfield and director of communications Jack Doyle had been “mutually agreed” with Mr Johnson as part of his plan to reshape No 10 as an Office of the Prime Minister.
But the PM was hit by the unexpected departure of a member of his policy unit, Elena Narozanski, and the announcements that former minister Nick Gibb and red wall MP Aaron Bell had submitted a letter of no confidence to the chair of the backbench 1922 Committee.
And there were reports of a cabinet civil war on Friday, with claims one minister urged Mr Johnson to sack Mr Sunak after his criticism of the PM’s comments about the Labour leader.
Mr Gibb was the 14th Tory MP to publicly call for Mr Johnson to go, writing in Saturday’s Daily Telegraph that: “We need to face up to hard truths. To restore trust, we need to change the prime minister."
Earlier on Friday, Mr Bell had said the prime minister’s mishandling of the Partygate scandal amounted to a “breach of trust” that made his position untenable.
And former Tory chair Chris Patten branded the PM a “moral vacuum” who had turned the Conservative Party into an “English nationalist, populist Johnsonian cult”.
The scathing criticism came amid reports on Friday night that police had been handed a picture of Mr Johnson drinking a beer at a party to mark his birthday during the first coronavirus lockdown. The image, which one lawyers suggested may be proof Mr Johnson had committed a crime, threatened to derail the PM’s latest attempt to move on from the Partygate scandal.
In a letter apparently designed to flatter Tory MPs into giving up on plans to oust him, Mr Johnson said he wanted to improve Downing Street by harnessing the “energy, experience and insight” of the parliamentary party.
He said: “I promised change and that is what we will now deliver together.”
In his address to Downing Street staff, the prime minister acknowledged that the government was going through “challenging times” and that misjudgements had been made.
But he told them: “As Rafiki in The Lion King says, change is good, and change is necessary even though it’s tough. We’ve got to get on with our job of serving the people of this country.”
The revival of the committees, first established under David Cameron, was broadly welcomed by Tory MPs, who have complained of being shut out of the decision-making process by a No 10 machine drawn tightly around the PM.
“If he is seeking ideas from beyond a group of advisers who don’t appear to have advised him very well, that is definitely welcome,” said one MP.
But another told The Independent: “Colleagues certainly like the idea of being consulted more, but I’m not sure that these committees had any influence under Cameron and I doubt they will now. It’s not going to change many minds.”
One senior backbencher who is not seeking Mr Johnson’s removal said that the idea of the PM “doing a John Major” and calling a vote on his own future – as his predecessor did in 1995 – was gaining ground on the Tory benches.
“If he called a confidence vote now, I think he’d win it and he’d have 12 months in which he couldn’t be challenged again,” said the veteran MP. “If he waits for the 54 letters to force a vote after the police inquiry and the publication of the Sue Gray report, I’m not so sure he’d survive.
“If I was advising him, I’d tell him to do it. It would look bold and it would save him from being undermined further by weeks more of this uncertainty.”
A No 10 insider told The Independent that the PM’s mood in regard to his predicament was swinging wildly.
“He’s been erratic. Boisterous and confident one moment and then bleak and full of recriminations the next,” said the source, speaking anonymously.
“It’s becoming a pattern. He was difficult to handle after he’d had Covid, and after Dom [Cummings, his former top adviser] left, but now he’s even worse. He’ll make a mess, like Savile, Peppa Pig, the early lines on parties – against the clearest advice – and then play the victim when it blows up in his face.”
An ally of Mr Johnson’s told The Independent that the prime minister was “smarting from his injuries” and “acting in an unpredictable way”.
Tory MPs who were summoned to one-to-one meetings in order that he could plead for their support said that the prime minister “plays the victim”, and that he had insisted he had done nothing wrong over the parties.
But a government spokesperson said: “These claims are completely untrue. The prime minister is focused on delivering the people’s priorities. This includes levelling up, supporting households facing cost-of-living pressures from energy bills, and continuing to lead the response to the situation in Ukraine.”
Mr Johnson’s official spokesperson insisted that the PM’s relations with Mr Sunak were “good”, after the chancellor yesterday admitted the government had lost public trust.
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Mr Javid today joined Mr Sunak in distancing himself from Mr Johnson’s discredited claim that, in his previous role as director of public prosecutions, Sir Keir had failed to prosecute Savile.
“Keir Starmer, when he was DPP, did a good job and he should be respected for it,” the health secretary told reporters. “It is a tough job and he deserved absolute respect for that.”