Divisions within Britain’s ruling Conservative party have continued to deepen as its maverick ex-leader Boris Johnson was urged by a former colleague on Tuesday to embrace “self-imposed silence in exile”. The advice comes a day after the current UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, traded barbs with the man who, in a Trumpian echo, has complained of a “witch-hunt” after a dramatic fall from grace that culminated in his surprise decision on Friday to quit parliament. The latest “blue on blue” feuding comes as a cross-party committee of MPs are expected to unveil their report on whether Johnson misled parliament over parties that were held in government offices during the Covid pandemic.
Sunak said on Monday he had rejected a plea from Johnson – his predecessor bar one – to overrule an independent body and allow some of the former leader’s allies to join parliament’s upper chamber because he “didn’t think it was right”. Responding to critics within the party – including supporters of Johnson who view him as a usurper – – Sunak said he had no sympathy for those who did not like his decision. “Boris Johnson asked me to do something that I wasn’t prepared to do, because I didn’t think it was right,” Sunak said on Monday. Sunak’s version of events was described as “rubbish” by Johnson, who, like other former prime ministers, are entitled to bestow honours, including a lifetime seat in parliament’s House of Lords. While it is not uncommon for British leaders to use their honours list to reward political allies, some of Johnson’s nominations were not included in a final list published on Friday as they had failed to receive backing from the body that vets such appointments.
The Tory infighting between Johnson and Sunak prompted the leader of Britain’s opposition Labour party, Keir Starmer, to warn that the UK’s international reputation was being damaged and investors were being put off. “Everywhere you go across the country, most people are really worried about the cost of living, they are worrying about how they can pay their bills,” Starmer said at a tech conference in London. Labour has been enjoying strong poll ratings and is widely tipped to win a general election expected to take place next year. “And for them to see a government squabbling with itself instead of focused on what they need addressed, I think is a very serious situation for this government.” Tim Loughton, a Conservative MP, said earlier on Tuesday morning that Johnson was no longer a member of parliament and the last thing the party needed was “backseat drivers”. “We thank him for his service. He’s done his bit. Now some self-imposed silence in exile would be welcome to all of us,” Loughton told BBC Radio 4. That service included leading his party to one of its biggest general election wins for decades in 2019. The win prompted suggestions that Johnson could rule for a decade in the face of a fractured opposition, with the Conservative party managing to draw voters from across the socio-demographic spectrum. Johnson was then prime minister through the shock of the pandemic – during which, his allies like to point out, the government oversaw the relatively quick rollout of a vaccine – followed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A biographer of Britain’s wartime leader, Winston Churchill, Johnson warmed to the role of being one of Ukraine’s most vociferous supporters. However, the pandemic also contained the seeds of Johnson’s downfall when he attended a birthday gathering for himself inside Downing Street in 2020, a breach of Covid restrictions on social gatherings. This resulted in an unprecedented fine by police. In parliament, he was subsequently placed under investigation by the inquiry – which has a majority of Conservative MPs – which is looking into whether he misled the House of Commons about that lockdown-breaking party and others.