Boris Johnson has said he accepts responsibility for his party’s crushing defeat in the North Shropshire byelection but also defiantly blamed the media for focusing on “politics and politicians” following a string of allegations about Tory sleaze and breaches of lockdown rules. The prime minister said he understood “why people were and are frustrated” in North Shropshire, where the Lib Dems overturned a huge Conservative majority to take the seat by 6,000 votes. Wearing a mask on camera, he told broadcasters: “Clearly the vote in North Shropshire is a very disappointing result. I totally understand people’s frustrations. I hear what the voters are saying in North Shropshire. In all humility I have got to accept that verdict. “I understand that what voters want us, as the government, to be doing at all times is to focus on them and their priorities.” However, Johnson went on to claim that the biggest problem of the last few weeks was that what “people have been hearing is a litany of stuff about politics and politicians and stuff that isn’t about them and things we can do to make life better”.
He brushed off questions about his personal responsibility for the scandals over how a Tory donor funded his wallpaper in Downing Street and the allegations of parties in Downing Street during lockdown, appearing to blame the media for focusing too much on these issues. Pressed on what needed to change, Johnson said: “With all humility and respect, those questions are exactly the kind of questions about politics, politicians, the running of government – I’m going to have to fix of course – but the real issues people want to focus on is NHS – investment we’re putting in – and what we’re doing to tackle pandemic. That’s the number one priority for the government.” Asked about the Tory MPs who are warning him that he could be removed as leader if he does not get a grip in No 10, Johnson refused to answer on the grounds that it was a question about politics and politicians. “Can I remind you of everything I’ve been saying in this interview? That is exactly the kind of question that breaks the golden rule,” he said. “We’re focusing on getting the job done. We’re focusing on trying to make sure we don’t only have the fastest vaccine rollout, fastest booster rollout, as we’ve already done, but we’re able through the get boosted now campaign to avert the most serious consequences of Omicron. “That is what the government is going to do now, that’s what I’m focused on, and do you know what, I think that’s what people would want me to be focused on.”
Following the result, some Conservative MPs have warned Johnson that he is on his last chance, with the 1922 Committee allowing letters of no confidence to be emailed to it over the Christmas holidays. Earlier this week, he suffered the biggest rebellion of his premiership, with 100 MPs voting against his plan B of Covid restrictions to deal with Omicron, meaning he had to rely on Labour votes to get the curbs through parliament. Sir Roger Gale, a veteran Tory backbencher, said the prime minister was living on borrowed time. “I think this has to be seen as a referendum on the prime minister’s performance and I think that the prime minister is now in last orders time,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “Two strikes already: one earlier this week in the vote in the Commons and now this. One more strike and he’s out.”