Rebel threat to call cops on Tory whip
Cabinet ministers have condemned the Tory rebels, known as the pork pie plotters, as ‘attention-seeking schoolchildren’.
Tory MPs who want to oust British Prime Minister Boris Johnson are considering publishing a secretly recorded conversation with the chief whip and text messages after they accused the government of blackmail and intimidation.
William Wragg, chairman of the public administration committee and one of seven Tory MPs who has submitted a letter of no confidence in Mr Johnson, urged colleagues to report the actions of whips to ministers or even go to the police.
“The intimidation of an MP is a serious matter,” he said. “Moreover, the reports of which I’m aware would seem to constitute blackmail. As such it would be my general advice to colleagues to report these matters to the Speaker of the House of Commons and the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.”
Cabinet ministers have condemned the Tory rebels, known as the pork pie plotters, as “attention-seeking schoolchildren” after their attempt to trigger a confidence vote in Mr Johnson faltered following the defection of a Tory MP to Labour.
The internal party row came as it was revealed that the senior civil servant investigating claims of lockdown-breaking parties in 10 Downing Street has found a crucial email from an official warning against a drinks event in May 2020.
Dominic Cummings, Mr Johnson’s former chief adviser, has claimed that a “very senior official” warned a top civil servant that inviting more than 100 staff to a “bring your own booze” event in the Downing Street garden would break lockdown rules. The warning came in response to the invitation sent by Martin Reynolds, Mr Johnson’s principal private secretary. When the invitation was leaked this month it sparked the gravest crisis yet of Mr Johnson’s premiership.
The fact that the response to Mr Reynolds from a senior official has been uncovered by Sue Gray, who is conducting the internal inquiry, will buoy opponents of Mr Johnson – although it does not confirm that the Prime Minister was told in advance that the event breached lockdown rules. Mr Johnson has consistently denied that he was warned the event, which he attended for about 25 minutes, should not go ahead.
Meanwhile, senior Tory MP Steve Baker said it was “checkmate” for Mr Johnson, as others indicated that they were waiting for Ms Gray’s report before submitting letters of no confidence. And the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs is considering changing its rules so that Mr Johnson could face two confidence votes in the space of a year.
The Tory rebels claim that whips have threatened to withdraw funding from their constituencies and that government aides have smeared them by releasing unsubstantiated claims about their drinking habits and personal lives to the media. The claims have been denied by 10 Downing Street.
The rebels met on Thursday to discuss how to respond. “They were comparing notes and discussing whether or not to make public texts and other evidence they have from the whips,” a source close to the group said.
“One member has recorded a heated conversation that they had with the chief whip.”
One member of the group said that they were told by a whip “you’re done” when voting against the government last year: “They pulled me over and I told them I was voting against them. They got right up in my face. They told me that if you think you’re getting a single f..king penny, forget it. If you think a minister is coming to your patch forget it. You’re done.”
The rebels’ claims of blackmail and threats were supported by Christian Wakeford, the MP who defected from the Conservatives to Labour moments before prime minister’s questions on Wednesday. He told the BBC that he had been informed previously that a new high school would not be built in his constituency if he did not back the government in a Commons vote.
“I was threatened that I would not get the school for Radcliffe if I did not vote in one particular way,” he said.
The Times
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