In an endless political soap opera, British MP William Wragg, 34, vice-president of the 1922 Commission, a body that can launch a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Boris Johnson, denounced this Thursday (20) an act of intimidation against favorable parliamentarians. the departure of the British leader.
The prime minister faces strong pressure from the Conservative Party, to which he is a part, due to the revelation that the official residence was the scene of parties during the country’s lockdown period. Lawmakers from the party, mainly from a younger wing, defend the resignation of Boris, and the tension around the crisis grew on Wednesday, when the former minister David Davis, who led between 2016 and 2018 the actions of the British government to leave the European Union, told the prime minister: “In the name of God, go”.
The stance against the Conservative leader, according to Wragg, generated a campaign of blackmail, and, “in recent days”, he said in a note, “parliamentarians have come under pressure and have been intimidated by members of the government after having assumed the desire for a distrust of Boris’ leadership”.
“Furthermore, the reports that I am aware of appear to constitute blackmail,” said Wragg, who urged colleagues to report what they know to the British mayor and the police.
During a visit to a medical center in Taunton, southwest England, Boris said he saw “no evidence to support these allegations” and declined to answer questions about whether he would resign if it was proven he had broken anti-Covid rules or how he would handle an attempt. to take him out of power.
This Wednesday, according to The Telegraph, 11 resignation requests have already been filed, and Conservative MP Christian Wakeford rose from the government bench and crossed the House of Commons to sit with the opposition. “You and the Conservative Party as a whole have proved incapable of providing the leadership and government this country deserves,” said the 37-year-old deputy.
Wakeford backed up Wragg’s statement and said the government had threatened to withhold funding for a new school in his constituency if he refused to vote with the Conservatives. “It’s a city [Radcliffe] who hasn’t had a high school for nearly ten years. How do you feel when a city’s recovery is blocked because of a vote? It wasn’t comfortable.”
Like him, many Conservatives are critical of Boris’ stance, and some of him wrote letters to the 1922 Committee asking for action to expel him from the leadership of the party and thus from Downing Street.
But for that, 54 cards are needed, or 15% of the 360 ​​members of the ruling bench, and the rebellion seems to have cooled down precisely because of the turncoat movement. At a time when polls give Labor an advantage of more than 10 percentage points, the defection has scared some conservatives.
“The prime minister will probably thank Christian because he made a lot of people think twice,” MP Andrew Percy told the BBC. “I think people have recognized that, in reality, this constant navel-gazing and internal debate only benefits our political opponents.”
According to some British media, part of the rebels, who accuse Boris of lying to Parliament about what he knew about the many parties organized in Downing Street during the confinements against Covid-19, would even have withdrawn their letters already presented to the 1922 Committee. .
Although the prime minister apologized last week, he denied breaking any rules and asked them to await the conclusions of the internal investigation led by second cabinet secretary Sue Gray. The ITV policy editor wrote on Twitter that Gray found an email from a senior official warning Boris’ top secretary that a party on May 20, 2020 was not to take place.
This Wednesday, the prime minister defended himself in a very combative way to the accusations, in a position that he hopes to maintain until the next legislative elections, scheduled for 2024. Before, he told Parliament that he thought the meeting was a working meeting, since the garden of the official residence functions, according to him, as an extension of the office. The prime minister said he remained there for 25 minutes to thank the officials and returned to his office.
Trying to regain control of the news, Boris announced the withdrawal, starting next week, of the restrictions imposed in England in December against the omicron variant – whose wave seems to decrease -, including teleworking, the use of masks in closed places and a health passport for large events.
.
