When Boris Johnson arrived at the oak-panelled committee room 14 in the House of Commons on Tuesday evening to address a restive meeting of Conservative MPs, the gravity of the prime minister’s predicament was plain. “You could tell he was serious — he had notes,” said one.
Rather than giving his familiar off-the-cuff “ra-ra, conference speech” — in the words of one minister — Johnson pleaded with Tory MPs to back him in Commons votes on what he called the Omicron “emergency”. Johnson said: “We are going to do the right thing by our country tonight.”
Johnson entered the room facing a massive Conservative rebellion over his so-called plan B package of coronavirus measures for England to tackle the fast spreading new coronavirus variant.
It soon became clear a handful of MPs were reassessing the threat posed by Omicron and were prepared to give the prime minister the benefit of the doubt, but many rebel Tories were digging in and preparing to defy Johnson.
“The rebels are haemorrhaging,” claimed one ally of Johnson after the meeting of the 1922 committee of backbench Conservative MPs. A minister added: “They’ve looked at the data. One by one, they stood up and said they had changed their mind.”
But in the end 126 MPs — most of them Tories — voted against the prime minister on the key measure of introducing Covid-19 vaccine certification for entry to mass events, in a big blow to his authority.
126
MPs voted against the PM on the measure of introducing Covid-19 vaccine certification for entry to mass events
Johnson’s pitch was that by imposing limited measures — Covid certification, more mask-wearing in public places, and working from home guidance — he was doing his best to “keep things moving”.
“I want us to be as free as we can possibly be,” he said. Many Tory MPs said they would continue to oppose some restrictions — particularly the requirement for Covid tests or vaccine passports to go to large events — although some were changing their minds.
Paul Bristow, one putative Conservative rebel, said he had been swayed by colleagues reporting a huge uptick in coronavirus cases in their constituencies. “That can’t be ignored,” he added.
For many MPs, the circulation of Covid at Westminster brought the issue closer to home. During the course of Tuesday a number of high profile MPs tested positive, including Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves.
But the anger with Johnson is deep-seated across the Conservative parliamentary party and has been building for weeks, following his botched handling of the sleaze scandal involving Owen Paterson, a former minister.
Two weeks of grim newspaper headlines about Downing Street Christmas parties held amid stringent coronavirus restrictions last year has shaken faith in Johnson and on Tuesday some Tory MPs were even angry that they were being asked to vote in person in the Commons.
“There will be over 500 of us crammed into the aye lobby tonight — the irony is that we’ll all end up with Covid,” said one MP, adding they should have been allowed to vote remotely.
The Conservative rebellion over Johnson’s latest Covid restrictions is a sign of party discipline breaking down. A Tory defeat in the North Shropshire parliamentary by-election on Thursday to the Liberal Democrats would be another blow to Johnson, although most Conservative MPs do not believe a putsch is imminent.
One former minister said: “In the past, MPs within the party have put up with a lot because he seemed like a winner. But once that illusion fades the Tory party will turn on him and become pretty brutal.”
Johnson and Sajid Javid, health secretary, spent Tuesday trying to reassure rebel Tories that the government’s plan B restrictions were not a prelude to more draconian measures.
Javid told the Commons the government would never enforce Covid vaccinations — apart from for NHS and social care staff — and that lateral flow tests would always be an alternative to jab certification to attend large events.
By Tuesday lunchtime it was clear certain rebels were peeling off, partly because of a reluctance among some MPs to vote alongside Marcus Fysh, a rightwing Tory who suggested Covid passports were the sort of thing seen in Nazi Germany.
But many Conservative MPs fear the relatively modest plan B restrictions are a prelude to another set of Covid measures, which they suspect Johnson will unleash after the Commons rises for its Christmas break on Thursday.
Mark Harper, a former Conservative chief whip and leading critic of restrictions, demanded that in those circumstances Johnson should recall parliament, which would set up another showdown with the Covid rebels in his party.
In a major concession, Downing Street on Tuesday told rebels that parliament would be recalled to discuss any new Covid measures, if they were required over the Christmas period.
Number 10 declined to speculate on “hypothetical” scenarios, but Tory MPs fear that a familiar menu of social distancing and the closure of hospitality businesses could be on their way.
Some Conservative MPs argued in the Commons that if Omicron was spreading so quickly — and the latest variant appeared to be a milder form of the disease — it might be better just to let it rip.
Johnson’s allies admit that recent weeks have been “bruising” for the prime minister, but think that the Christmas break will allow political temperatures to cool. “We can’t keep having weeks like this one, that’s for sure,” said one.