Boris Johnson insists Government has not been blown off course as MPs return
Boris Johnson has insisted his Government has not been blown off course by coronavirus but said that âsometimes it is necessaryâ to change direction in âresponse to the facts as they changeâ.
The Prime Ministerâs comments come after he presided over a series of U-turns on policy which have angered Conservative MPs, with one describing events as a âmegadisaster from one day to the nextâ.
Chairing his first Cabinet meeting after the summer parliamentary recess, Mr Johnson told ministers that in the last few months they have been âsailing into the teeth of a gale, no questionâ.
âAnd I am no great nautical expert, but sometimes it is necessary to tack here and there in response to the facts as they change, in response to the windâs change, but we have been going steadily in the direction, in the course we set out, and we have not been blown off that course.â
He said there would still be âsome turbulence aheadâ and that things would be âdifficultâ on the economic front, while the need remained to âget this disease absolutely out of our systemsâ.
âBut I am absolutely confident that if we continue in the way that we have that there will be calmer days, brighter days and calmer seas ahead of us, so thank you all very much for everything that you have done.â
Many Tory backbenchers are frustrated by the Governmentâs handling of the crisis, with one senior Conservative MP telling the PA news agency his colleagues are âtired of the U-turnsâ.
âThereâs that element of calamity â and frankly there are people from the Red Wall seats who are getting jittery. But not only Red Wall seats, but other people who havenât got marginal seats like that,â he said.
âWeâd like to be in a Government that has the impression of being competent, rather than lurching from one issue to another and then after a short time doing a U-turn.â
The backbencher said MPs were left with âegg on their faceâ each time they defended Government policy to constituents, and then had to reverse their stance.
The Conservatives won a majority of 80 seats at last yearâs general election, turning many traditional Labour constituencies â which formed the so-called Red Wall â blue.
Some MPs are concerned that these newly won seats could be returned to Labour at the next election if the Government performs poorly.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, treasurer of the 1922 Committee of Tory MPs, said the panelâs executives expect to meet Mr Johnson in the ânear futureâ to relay the concerns of backbenchers.
He told PA: âI think there is a lot of sympathy (among Conservative MPs) for the fact it has been unprecedented, but then I think we mustnât make other own goals.
âThere are other issues like planning which are now beginning to bubble to the surface⊠devolution of local authorities is another area that is going to surface in the autumn. We must be very careful with what issues we bring up not to create unnecessary controversy.
âWe may have a big majority but that still doesnât mean to say that we shouldnât be as competent as possible as a Government.â
Mr Johnson told Cabinet: âWe will continue to get this country moving and to defeat the virus, but at the same time we are getting on as you all know with delivering on our promises and we havenât stopped, like the teachers whoâve been hard at work keeping their schools going,
âThis Government has been getting on with delivering 40 more hospitals, and 20,000 more police officers, 50,000 more nurses, you know what we are doing and we are getting on with it.
âAnd from this crisis we will build back better in this country and we will build back faster, and we will build back greener.â