Theresa May's team in crisis talks as PM fears being toppled over Boris Johnson burqa row
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Loading... - Ivana Lucija
- 13 Aug 2021
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Theresa May fears being toppled over her bungled handling of Boris Johnson ’s burka jibes.
As the race row escalated today, her approach was slammed as “cack-handed” and “a total disaster” by Cabinet ministers furious at her failure to deal with the mess.
Her botched tactics have sparked “open warfare” in the Tory party with five Cabinet ministers privately expressing fury at her “stupid” response to the comments.
No 10 aides have been locked in crisis meetings over the weekend in a bid to solve the crisis.
It comes amid claims that more Tory MPs are preparing to submit letters to the 1922 Committee, demanding a vote of no confidence in the PM.
A contest would be triggered if 48 Tory MPs demand one.
Separately, senior party figures are warning that if Mr Johnson is disciplined, a full-scale revolt could see the PM ousted from Downing Street.
Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said: “If Boris is suspended it will be open warfare in the Conservative Party.
“And if Theresa May dares to engineer a leadership contest while Boris is suspended, it will be World War Three.”
With mounting pressure on the PM, reports today also revealed a Brexiteer plot to oust her as early as October and replace her with David Davis.
Allies of former Brexit Secretary have urged Mr Johnson to postpone his own leadership bid until Mr Davis steps down as interim leader, according to reports.
Meanwhile, Brexiteer MP Jacob Rees-Mogg slammed the Tory investigation into Mr Johnson’s remarks as a “show trial” motivated by Mrs May’s personal rivalry with Mr Johnson.
Mrs May put her premiership on the line by agreeing with her party chair, Brandon Lewis, last week that Mr Johnson should apologise - then belatedly launching a probe into his remarks.
Disciplinary action could lead to Mr Johnson being suspended or even booted out of the party. A Whitehall source said it was more likely he will be forced to undergo diversity training.
But Tories criticised the PM’s bungled response to his remarks.
One Tory source told the Daily Mirror: “From the moment she said he should apologise, there was always the risk he [Mr Johnson] would refuse to do so.
“It was always going to leave her looking weak, as well as leaving her even more unpopular with many Tory MPs - and that is exactly what has happened.”
One Cabinet minister slammed Mrs May’s handling of the affair, saying: “It’s been a total cock-up from start to finish.”
A second Cabinet minister said: “It’s been so cack-handed. The sooner the party throws this investigation out, the better. Lots of people both on the front and back benches are really p***** off.”
A third Cabinet minister slammed Mrs May’s political strategists, explaining: “They have managed to engineer a total disaster. There is not a serious political brain in or around Downing Street. Trying to silence Boris is stupid, especially when the majority of people agree with him.”
One Tory local association president said the PM was “at best an embarrassment, and at worst a humiliation for our great party and country”.
The growing support for Mr Johnson from Tory ministers, MPs and activists has also sparked another problem for the PM - fresh accusations her party has an Islamophobia problem.
Muslim Council of Britain secretary Harun Khan said: “The comments and belief by a number of Conservative MPs that not even an apology is required has shone a light on the underbelly of Islamophobia that is present within the party.”
A Tory peer and former aide to David Cameron, Lord Cooper, accused Mr Johnson of “moral emptiness” and “courting fascism” after describing Muslim women wearing burkas “letter boxes” and “bank robbers”.
Lord Cooper said: “The rottenness of Boris Johnson goes deeper even than his casual racism and his equally casual courting of fascism.
“He will advocate literally anything to play to the crowd of the moment. His career is a saga of moral emptiness and lies; pathetic, weak and needy; the opposite of strong.”
Mr Johnson’s dad Stanley defended his son, saying he was “spot on” but should have gone further and called for a ban on the burka in schools and hospitals.
His sister Rachel said his controversial newspaper article “read like a column written on a Sunday morning while on holiday in Italy, with a bottle or two of Asti Spumante chilling in the fridge for lunch”.
She said she would not have used the phrase “bank robbers”, but otherwise she said his comments were “fine and fair”.
Mr Johnson returned home from holiday in Italy over the weekend but has still not publicly commented on the race row.
Meanwhile, far-right US activist Steve Bannon, who was in talks with Mr Johnson during a recent visit to the UK, urged him not to “bow at the altar of political correctness” by apologising.
The former chief strategist to Donald Trump told The Sunday Times that Mr Johnson had “nothing to apologise for”.
Mrs May was also hit by worrying signs among Tory donors over her handling of the issue.
David Wall, the secretary of the Midlands Industrial Council, whose members give millions to the Tories each year, described the row as “an argument over relatively nothing”.
Mr Wall said: “I don’t think his situation needs to be referred to a disciplinary committee of the party. I don’t think he expressed himself in an offensive way at all.
“I have talked to several colleagues and they have the same view as I do. What on earth is all the fuss about?”
City financier Jeremy Hosking, who has given £375,000 since 2015, added: “The cynical and opportunistic response of some leading Conservatives in condemning him seems so transparent in its motivation as to be laughable.”
Meanwhile, a senior Church of England bishop called for a partial ban on wearing face-covering veils such as burkas in public.
Michael Nazir-Ali, the former Bishop of Rochester, warned Islamic dress was being “weaponised by Islamists”, and that it had “implications for integration and social cohesion”.
The Pakistani-born cleric, who led the Diocese of Rochester between 1994 and 2009, also said the garments should be outlawed in a variety of places “for reasons of national security”.
