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Coffee House Shots

Is Boris safe for now?

Coffee House Shots

The Spectator

News, Politics, Government, Daily News

4.42.1K Ratings

🗓️ 19 January 2022

⏱️ 14 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Last night rumours were flying around Westminster that letters of no confidence from Tory MPs were pouring in and Boris might be leaving sooner rather than later. But with the surprising crossing of the aisle by MP for Bury South, Christian Wakeford, it appears that old party tribalism may have stayed some hands. 

'While a coup against a leader is one thing defecting is quite another.' - James Forsyth

Katy Balls talks with James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman about all of today's political drama, from Keir Starmer's 'very good' jokes to David Davis's public call for Johnson to 'in the name of God go!' 


Subscribe to The Spectator's Evening Blend email, from Isabel Hardman and Katy Balls, for analysis of the day's political news and a summary of the best pieces from our website. Go to www.spectator.co.uk/blend to sign up.

Transcript

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0:00.0

The Spectator magazine combines incisive political analysis with books and arts reviews of unrivaled authority. free. Go to spectator.com.uk forward slash voucher.

0:28.9

Hello and welcome to Coffeehouse Shots of Spectators' Daily Politics Podcast.

0:34.2

Is Boris Johnson safe and Philistine Gray report?

0:38.4

Overnight, there were reports of Redwall MPs and members of the wider 2019 intake submitting letters

0:46.7

and there was fever of speculation that they could actually hit the 54 letters.

0:51.6

However, since then, we've had a few dramatic events in the House of Commons,

0:56.2

with one member of the Red Wall intake defecting to Labour. James, can you just talk us through

1:01.0

what happened and how it in a way seems to be helping Boris Johnson? So, shortly before PMQ's,

1:08.3

Christian Wakeford, Tory MP for Berry South, defected to the Labour Party.

1:13.3

Now, he has been in talks with Labour for quite some time, but he was also the seventh Tory MP to call for Boris Johnson to go.

1:21.7

And I think what happened then was Boris Johnson's allies rushed out and said, look, this is really serious.

1:28.4

You know, look who benefits from this, Labour. They used it to cast doubt on the judgment of

1:33.0

those people calling Boris Johnson to go, look, look, you know, one of these people who's gone

1:36.1

public has gone and joined the Labour Party. And political parties are tribal. And so while, like,

1:41.8

a coup against the leader is one thing, defecting is quite another.

1:45.6

And so that, I think, slow the plot of momentum. And I think it made people much more inclined to say,

1:53.6

let's wait for the Sue Gray report, coming out as Boris Johnson, let's live at PMQ's next week,

1:59.4

and act then. And I think it's pushed Tory MVs back

2:02.2

towards a kind of it's important that there's due process here there's a report let the report

2:07.7

come out and then we'll take a judgment now I think there are reasons to think that number 10 need

2:13.9

this report to move the dial in favour of not having a confidence vote in Boris Johnson.

2:19.4

I think it is unlikely to do that.

...

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