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Tories may never recover

The choice of either Robert Jenrick or Kemi Badenoch could prove that those predicting doom may not be wrong, writes Mihir Bose

The choice of Tory MPs to make the Tory leadership race one between Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick could make the Tories like the Republicans in the US or right-wing parties of Europe.

Donald Trump may win power but his Republican party is so far removed from the country club Republican party that has dominated American politics that many of the old Republicans are voting for Kamala Harris. On the continent the traditional right-wing parties have been even more marginalised.

However, to write of the Tories always seems a bit premature. In 1997 after Tony Blair’s victory Geoffrey Wheatcroft wrote The Strange Death of Tory England taking his cue from a famous book  written in 1935, The Strange Death of Liberal England by George Dangerfield. That book was prophetic because the Liberals as a party of government did disappear and have only been in power once as a junior coalition partner of David Cameron’s first government. Even that proved such a disaster that they were nearly wiped out in the next elections. The Conservatives, in contrast, not only survived the Blair wave but returned to power with such vengeance that it has taken Labour fourteen years to regain power.

But the choice of either Jenrick or Badenoch could prove that those predicting doom may not be wrong.

Jenrick is clearly going for the anti-immigrant vote but while this has appeal elections are decided by how people see governments perform in delivering on the economy, NHS, welfare, public services.

Badenoch’s decision is to fight the culture wars. Culture war has taken over from political correctness as another word that conceals its true meaning. Some years ago when Calcutta became Kolkata and Bombay, Mumbai people said this was political correctness. I pointed out Bengalis had always pronounced Calcutta as Kolkata and Mumbai was the name the Kohli fisherman called the city. There is after all a great temple in Mumbai called Mumbadevi. I grew up in Mumbai hearing Maharashtrian demonstrators going down Flora Fountain shouting Mumbai Amachi, Mumbai is ours, demanding the creation of the state of Maharashtra. Indeed during one demonstration outside our house I saw the police fire on a crowd and kill a boy, I remember his body naked to the waist bathed in red blood, the first dead body I had seen. Culture wars, like political correctness, are polite words meant to say how dare you interfere with the world our European ancestors created?

Badenoch, of Nigerian origin, was born here but lived in Nigeria as a child and told the Times that her upbringing in Nigeria showed her the danger of identity politics. “Human beings will always find a difference. I grew up in a place where everybody was black, but there were different languages, there were different cultures. And you still had the same sort of vicious hatred for people who looked exactly the same, but they might dress differently or have a different religion”. Countries need a “dominant shared identity”. In the UK you had to be British. “Watering that down and encouraging everybody to find a way to split into different groups is actually quite dangerous. And I’ve seen more and more of that happening here in a way it wasn’t 30 years ago”

What she did not say was that Nigeria was created by British colonial rulers when Africa  was described as the dark continent which had no history before the Europeans arrived with their civilising mission. Not to acknowledge that history means a vital part of British history is being censored constructing a sham Britishness.

This is, of course ,a pan-European thing and is well demonstrated in the whole debate about the environment. It is wonderfully analysed by the historian Sunil Amrith in The Burning Earth (Allen Lane £30) which looks at the environmental history of the last 500 years but reinterprets a history previously been seen from a Euro and anthropocentric viewpoint into a global viewpoint.

The Chinese in the 15th century then the mightiest power did not want to expand and paid the price when the Europeans came knocking on their doors. There is the story of Madeira the Atlantic island which became the largest producer of sugar in the world just as 12.5 million humans were enslaved and transported across the Atlantic between 1492 and 1866. In Madeira vast expansive land was turned over to growing a single crop. “There was nothing unprecedented in the speed with which the forest of Madeira were razed by the new settlers. “To exhaust the land” was the imperative of Chinese provincial governors in Ming and Quing times. But their aim was always to secure food for a growing population. Investors in Portuguese sugar ventures wanted something else- they wanted to extract the maximum profit in the shortest time”.

He also links the British bringing railways to India, something the British are very proud of, with even more famines taking place because the railways constructed to transport British troops did not reach remote areas. In the 1970s India’s National Sample Survey found that still 72% of all journeys in rural India were made on foot. The British absolved themselves of any responsibility for the famines blaming it on Indian society and even today cannot accept any blame for the second world war famine that killed three million Bengalis in the worst 20th century famine in south Asian history.

But I do not suppose Badenoch would read it as it would not help promote her idea of Britishness which she hopes will win her power. Should the Tories buy her very selective view of Britishness this time they could become marginalised.

Mihir Bose is the author of Thank You Mr Crombie Lessons in Guilt and Gratitude to the British.

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Record 26 Indian-Origin MPs Enter UK Parliament

Apart from Rishi Sunak, 25 other Indian-origin MPs — including 20 from the Labour Party and five Conservatives — also emerged victorious on Friday, reports Asian Lite News

A record number of 26 Indian-origin MPs are set to enter the UK Parliament after Friday’s General Election results, marking a significant increase from 15, five years ago.

Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak, the first Indian-origin person to have served as the UK Prime Minister, leads the pack after having secured victory from Richmond and Northallerton constituency in Yorkshire.

Apart from Sunak, 25 other Indian-origin MPs — including 20 from the Labour Party and five Conservatives — also emerged victorious on Friday.

Priti Patel

Priti Patel, Conservative MP of Gujarati descent, won from Witham, Essex. Patel, who has served in various capacities, including Secretary of State for International Development, has been representing the constituency since 2010.

Gagan Mohindra, a prominent politician from a Punjabi Hindu background, secured his seat in South West Hertfordshire. Mohindra has been a Conservative MP since 2019, following his initial election as a Parish Councillor in 2004.

Labour Party leader Seema Malhotra retained her Feltham and Heston constituency for a fourth term since 2011. Malhotra has held several shadow ministerial roles, including Shadow Minister for Skills and Further Education.

Lisa Nandy

Valerie Vaz, Labour leader of Goan origin, won the Walsall and Bloxwich constituency for the fifth time. Vaz, who has been an MP since 2010, has served as the Shadow Leader of the House of Commons.

Lisa Nandy retained her seat in Wigan, making her the constituency’s first female MP and one of the first Asian female MPs since 2010. She has served as the Shadow Cabinet Minister for International Development.

ALSO READ: A Labour MP from Kerala

Nadia Whittome, who made history in 2019 as the UK’s youngest MP at the age of 23, was re-elected from Nottingham East.

Preet Kaur Gill, the UK’s first female Sikh MP, defeated Conservative Ashvir Sangha in Birmingham, a seat she has held since 2017. Gill has served as the Shadow Minister for Primary Care and Public Health.

Labour Party’s Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi retained his Slough constituency, although with a reduced victory margin.

Shivani Raja, MP from Leicester East

Conservative leader Shivani Raja won the Leicester East constituency, where she was fielded against another Indian-origin Labour candidate, Rajesh Agrawal.

44-year-old Conservative MP Suella Braverman, who was embroiled in controversies and dismissed by the party for her statements, won from the Fareham and Waterlooville constituency for the fourth consecutive time.

Additionally, other Indian-origin Labour MPs to be elected to the UK’s House of Parliament include Navendu Mishra, Jas Athwal, Baggy Shanker, Satvir Kaur, Harpreet Uppal, Warinder Juss, Gurinder Josan, Kanishka Narayan, Sonia Kumar, Sureena Brackenbridge, Kirith Entwistle, Jeevun Sandher, Sojan Joseph and Murina Wilson.

ALSO READ: Starmer Unveils New Cabinet; Names UK’s First Female Chancellor

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Conservatives set for heavy election defeat, polls forecast

They are largely in line with previous surveys predicting a Labour victory, but show the scale of the Conservatives’ defeat could be even worse than previously thought…reports Asian Lite News

Three opinion polls on Wednesday predicted a record defeat for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives at a July 4 election, forecasting the Labour Party would comfortably win a large majority after 14 years in opposition.

Polling by YouGov showed Keir Starmer’s Labour was on track to win 425 parliamentary seats in Britain’s 650-strong House of Commons, the most in its history. Savanta predicted 516 seats for Labour and More in Common gave it 406.

YouGov had the Conservatives on 108 and the Liberal Democrats on 67, while Savanta predicted the Conservatives would take 53 parliamentary seats and the Liberal Democrats 50. More in Common forecast 155 and 49 seats respectively.

Chris Hopkins, Political Research Director at Savanta, said its projection put Labour on course “for a historic majority.”

The three polls were so-called multilevel regression and post-stratification (MRP) surveys, an approach that uses voters’ age, gender, education and other variables to predict results in every British voting district. Pollsters used the method to successfully predict the 2017 British election result.

They are largely in line with previous surveys predicting a Labour victory, but show the scale of the Conservatives’ defeat could be even worse than previously thought.

YouGov’s forecast of 108 seats for the Conservatives was around 32 lower than its previous poll two weeks earlier.

Both Savanta and YouGov predicted that the party of Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher could be left with the lowest number of seats in its near 200-year history contesting elections.

Sunak, who in a final throw of the dice last week pledged to cut 17 billion pounds of taxes for working people if re-elected, has failed to turn the polls around so far in a campaign littered with missteps.

His task has been made harder by the surprise mid-campaign return to frontline politics by prominent Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, a right-wing populist, whose Reform UK party threatens to split the right-of-center vote.

Britain has a first-past-the-post electoral system, meaning Reform could pick up millions of votes across the country without winning any individual seats.

YouGov predicted Reform would win five seats and Savanta none. More in Common did not give a figure for Reform.

The Savanta poll, published by the Telegraph newspaper, said Sunak could even lose his own parliamentary seat in northern England, once considered a safe Conservative constituency, with the contest currently too close to call.

Sunak has acknowledged that people are frustrated with him and his party after more than a decade in power, dominated at times by political turmoil and scandal.

All three surveys projected several senior government ministers, including finance minister Jeremy Hunt, were on course to lose their seats.

Most opinion polls currently place Keir Starmer’s Labour about 20 percentage points ahead of the governing Conservatives in the national vote share.

Other polls in recent days have also presented a grim picture for Sunak, with one pollster predicting “electoral extinction” for the Conservatives.

ALSO READ-India-UK Partnership to Grow, Says Modi After Sunak Meet

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It’s Game Over Rishi Sunak – Why not call a General Election?

The reality after losing the by-elections in Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire last week is grim for Rishi Sunak… writes Kishan Devani BEM, FRSA

As Sir Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party said recently – Rishi Sunak is “completely wrong” to say nobody wants a general election actually “What he really meant was he’s not happy to go to the electorate because he thinks he will lose.”

The reality after losing the by-elections in Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire last week is grim for Rishi Sunak. The Conservative Party suffered crushing defeats in electoral contests for two of its safest parliamentary seats, sending an ominous signal to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak about his chances of holding onto power in the next general election. The Tories are heading for a 1997-style defeat, Rishi Sunak needs to wake up and smell the coffee, after two historic by-election losses. 

Prof John Curtice said Labour’s shock wins in Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire meant the Tories had not seen such poor by-election results since the run-up to Tony Blair’s 1997 general election landslide. Sir John warned that without a “dramatic” turnaround, Sunak’s party is on course for a huge defeat – predicting that Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party could claim an even bigger win than under Tony Blair in 1997.

Labour overcame a 24,664 majority to win Mid Bedfordshire, marking the largest Conservative numerical majority overturned in the U.K. by the main opposition party since 1945.

In Tamworth, the 23.9-point swing from Conservative to Labour represented the second-largest percentage overturn of its kind since 1945 and took on what was a 66% Conservative majority in the 2019 general election.

Mr Sunak has to go to the country by January 2025 at the latest, but spring or autumn 2024 are more likely options. But why not do it now? Spare everyone the continuing incompetence, division, empty words, nonsensical policies & complete and utter disregard for the problems facing communities across our country. Do us all a favour and call a General Election – if you are so confident that you will win and the Conservatives will continue their campaign of dividing our nation – then please go ahead and call one. The electorate are now fed up of this populist, slogan led, empty and hollow government. It is this that the Conservatives and Mr Sunak obviously know and hence are not calling the General Election our country desperately needs.

ALSO READ: ‘Rishi Sunak Does Not Represent Us’

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Greek conservatives win in regional elections

The regional elections came as a political test for the government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis who won a second term in office in this summer’s general elections…reports Asian Lite News

Greek conservatives of the ruling New Democracy (ND) party won seven out of 13 regions in the first round of regional elections on Sunday, according to the preliminary results released by the Interior Ministry, with about 40 percent of ballots counted till midnight.

The regional elections came as a political test for the government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis who won a second term in office in this summer’s general elections.

“We are here to work with each governor and mayor. After all, this is what we did in the previous four years because problems have no (political) color,” the premier said on Sunday evening after the announcement of the results, sending a message of cooperation.

Candidates for regional governors, as well as mayors in the 332 municipalities nationwide, needed to secure 43 percent of votes to win the seat outright, otherwise the 1st and 2nd runners will contest in a runoff on Oct. 15.

In the region of Attica, where the capital Athens is located and is the most populous region, ND candidate Nikos Hardalias won the election with 46.53 percent of votes after 50.37 percent of votes were counted.

“All together we will fight in the next five years and together, undoubtedly, we will make it,” he said.

Athens’ incumbent Mayor Kostas Bakoyannis gained 41.27 percent of votes with 44.49 percent of votes counted, and thus will face a candidate backed by the socialist PASOK-KINAL party in the second round. In Piraeus, the incumbent mayor Yiannis Moralis achieved a clear victory with 69.8 percent of votes.

A clear picture of the results of municipal elections was expected on Monday. The local administration officials are elected for a five-year term.

Some 9.7 million Greek citizens aged above 17 were registered to vote. In addition, 17,957 citizens of 26 EU member states, who are living in Greece and have registered for the elections, could also cast their ballot, according to the Interior Ministry.

ALSO READ-Greek PM outlines policy priorities

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Tories in trouble

Johnson’s resignation means Tories now faces special elections this summer, threatening to derail his hopes of closing the gap in the opinion polls with the opposition Labour Party…reports Asian Lite News

Boris Johnson quit his seat in the UK Parliament, denouncing as a “kangaroo court” the panel of lawmakers investigating his behavior and attacking the policies of the current prime minister, Rishi Sunak.

The former premier – who blames Sunak for the role he played in his own downfall last year – said Parliament’s Privileges Committee has mounted a “political hit job” and accused its chairwoman, Labour’s Harriet Harman, of “egregious bias.”

The committee didn’t respond to a request for comment. The panel has been investigating whether Johnson misled lawmakers over his knowledge of Covid-19 rule breaches by officials.

“The committee’s report is riddled with inaccuracies and reeks of prejudice,” Johnson said in a statement issued late on Friday. He was privately informed this week of their findings, which are not yet public. “I am now being forced out of parliament by a tiny handful of people,” he said.

Johnson’s resignation triggers a challenging special election for Sunak in a seat which the ruling Conservative Party held in 2019 with a relatively slim majority of about 7,000.

The departure also reopens the feud between the two men that has simmered since Sunak resigned as Chancellor of the Exchequer in protest against Johnson’s leadership last year. That move precipitated Johnson’s departure as premier.

In his statement, Johnson pulled no punches in his diagnosis of the electoral ills of the Conservative Party, which has trailed the main opposition Labour Party in national polling by a double-digit margin for months.

On the day Sunak returned from a two-day visit to Washington, Johnson questioned why the government had “so passively abandoned the prospect of a Free Trade Deal with the US.” He said ministers needed to cut business and personal taxes and also asked why the government had “junked” measures to help people into home ownership.

“We must not be afraid to be a properly Conservative government,” Johnson said. “When I left office last year the government was only a handful of points behind in the polls. That gap has now massively widened. Our party needs urgently to recapture its sense of momentum and its belief in what this country can do.”

Boris Johnson and Joe Biden.

Johnson’s resignation means Sunak’s party now faces special elections this summer, threatening to derail his hopes of closing the gap in the opinion polls with the opposition Labour Party, ahead of a general election due by January 2025.

He quit after a rapid series of developments on Friday that plunged the Tories into more political chaos.

Nadine Dorries, a key Johnson ally, also resigned from her Mid Bedfordshire seat after she was denied a peerage in Johnson’s resignation honor list. Bill Cash, the veteran Conservative MP and arch Eurosceptic, announced he would step down at the next election, after Johnson made him an Order of the Companions of Honour.

That list was published late on Friday afternoon, causing more controversy for the Tories as Johnson had recommended awards for a number of key supporters including former ministers Jacob Rees-Mogg and Priti Patel.

On Saturday, Nigel Adams announced he was standing down as a member of UK parliament with immediate effect, triggering a third by-election after Johnson and Dorries.

The privileges panel was seeking to establish whether Johnson deliberately misled lawmakers when he repeatedly denied rule-breaking had occurred during a series of gatherings in Downing Street – collectively known as “Partygate” – during the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. He later apologized to the chamber after being fined for breaking the rules himself. Sunak was also fined.

Johnson claimed that his downfall was brought about by opponents of Brexit, launching angry attacks in his statement on the opposition Labour Party, as well as Sunak and Sue Gray, the civil servant whose investigation into Partygate also played a large role in his downfall.

“There is a witch hunt underway, to take revenge for Brexit and ultimately to reverse the 2016 referendum result,” said Johnson, a key architect of the winning “Leave” campaign.

While Johnson’s immediate political career is over, he hinted that he may attempt to return at some point. “It is very sad to be leaving parliament – at least for now,” he said.

ALSO READ: Boris Johnson resigns as MP

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Will Truss be the shortest-serving British PM?

The current incumbent of 10 Downing Street Liz Truss, who has been in post for only 39 days, appears to be increasingly in danger of being ousted by her Conservative party MPs, unless there’s a dramatic turnaround in her fortunes over the next few days, a report by Ashis Ray

The shortest-serving British Prime Minister was George Canning, who, in 1827, was in office for a mere 119 days. His term though was cut short not by political events, but by his premature death at the age of 57.

The current incumbent of 10 Downing Street Liz Truss, who has been in post for only 39 days, appears to be increasingly in danger of being ousted by her Conservative party MPs, unless there’s a dramatic turnaround in her fortunes over the next few days.

Nicholas Watt, political editor of the in-depth current affairs programme on TV, BBC Newsnight, tweeted: “The PM will find it difficult to survive”. According to him, a group of Conservative lawmakers are planning to call on Truss to resign next week.

Prime Minister Liz Truss appoints Jeremy Hunt as her new Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Cabinet Room of No10 Downing Street. Picture by Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street

Watt’s post following the sacking of Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng on Friday morning. His ‘mini-budget’ last month created a 62 billion pound hole in the British government’s finances with sweeping, populist, unfunded tax cuts.

The giveaway was received with considerable concern in the markets. The value of the pound collapsed from around $1.30 to lmost the level of the United States currency. It was trading at $1.12 on Friday.

In a letter accepting his dismissal, Kwarteng u-turned by asking Truss to move forward to “fiscal discipline”. This was interpreted in informed circles as an impending reversal of some of the tax cuts announced by the former only three weeks ago.

Prime Minister Liz Truss attends a reception to celebrate the USA-British Lamb Agreement in 10 Downing Street. Picture by Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street

The bottom line however is, the mini-budget was nothing but a reflection of the promises made by Truss during her bid for the leadership of the Conservative party and therefore the post of Prime Minister. It will, pundits suggested, be difficult for her to distance herself from the proposals. On the other hand, if she does a volte-face, her credibility could suffer irreparably.

Truss repeatedly clashed with her Indian-origin rival in the leadership contest Rishi Sunak on tax issues. Sunak conspicuously did not attend last week’s annual Conservative party conference. It remains to be seen if he emerges as Truss’s potential successor, if she is forced to step down.

Truss was expected to address a press conference later on Friday.

ALSO READ: Truss battles to survive

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Truss vows to scrap all EU laws by next year

Liz Truss said she will “seize the chance to diverge from outdated EU law and frameworks and capitalise on the opportunities.”

Amid the ongoing contest for the Tory leadership, top contender Liz Truss has promised to review all EU laws retained in the British statute book by the end of next year, and to scrap measures deemed to be holding back the City of London.

UK foreign secretary Truss, in a statement, vowed a “red tape bonfire” if she became prime minister, including reform of the Mifid II trading rules. She also promised to unleash the “full potential” of Britain post-Brexit.

 “EU regulations hinder our businesses and this has to change. In Downing Street, I will seize the chance to diverge from outdated EU law and frameworks and capitalise on the opportunities we have ahead of us,” she was quoted as saying by the Financial Times.

This comes as Truss along with former British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak emerged as the final two candidates in the country’s leadership race of the ruling Conservative party on Wednesday.

Earlier this week, International Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt was knocked out in the final round of ballot among Conservative lawmakers. Sunak won 137 votes and Truss 113.

The contest to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister will now go before the Conservative Party’s 200,000-odd dues-paying members, who will select the winner later this summer via mail-in ballot. The winner, to be announced on Sept. 5, will automatically become Johnson’s successor.

https://twitter.com/trussliz/status/1550442678994833410

Though Sunak has won each of the five rounds of voting by lawmakers, a YouGov poll published on Tuesday showed that he was less popular with the party’s grassroots. He is predicted to lose to Truss, a favourite of the party’s right-wing, in the head-to-head contest.

Both candidates have made pledges on tax cuts as the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite. However, Sunak dismissed as “fairytales” his rivals’ promises of immediate tax cuts, arguing that inflation must be brought under control first.

Inflation in Britain rose by 9.4 per cent in June, hitting a fresh 40-year high, official statistics showed on Wednesday. Truss, on the other hand, promised to start cutting taxes from day one.

The Tory leadership race was triggered after Johnson was forced to step down on July 7 by an avalanche of resignations of government officials, who protested against his scandal-plagued leadership. Johnson continues to serve as caretaker prime minister until a new Tory leader succeeds him. (ANI)

ALSO READ: UK inflation hits fresh 40-year high

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Boris vows to lead Conservatives to next election

The election defeats suggest the broad voter appeal which helped Johnson win the 2019 election may be fracturing after a scandal over illegal parties held at Downing Street during coronavirus lockdowns…reports Asian Lite News

Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed to lead his Conservative party into the next national election, which could be more than two years away, despite two bruising by-election defeats that have led to renewed calls for him to quit.

Earlier this month, Johnson survived a vote of confidence by Conservative lawmakers, though 41% of his parliamentary colleagues voted to oust him, and he is under investigation by a committee over whether he intentionally misled parliament.

On Friday, Conservative candidates lost two elections to the House of Commons held to replace former Conservative incumbents who had to step down, one after being convicted of sexual assault and the other for watching pornography in parliament.

The election defeats suggest the broad voter appeal which helped Johnson win the 2019 election may be fracturing after a scandal over illegal parties held at Downing Street during coronavirus lockdowns.

Fears that Johnson could have become an electoral liability may prompt lawmakers to move against him, at a time when millions of Britons are struggling with rising food and fuel prices.

However, Johnson said he did not expect to face another internal challenge from within his party.

When asked on the final day of a trip to Rwanda for a Commonwealth summit if he would fight another confidence vote, Johnson told reporters: “What? We just had one of those things and I’m very happy to have got a bigger mandate from my parliamentary party than I got in 2019.”

Asked if he felt the question of his leadership was settled, the prime minister said: “Yes”.

Under existing party rules, Johnson’s leadership cannot be formally challenged again for another year.

Asked if he would lead the Conservatives into the next election, which is due no later than December 2024, Johnson said, “Will I win? Yes.”

Johnson blamed the by-election defeats partly on months of media reporting of lockdown parties at the heart of government.

“I think that actually people were fed up of hearing about things I had stuffed up, or allegedly stuffed up, or whatever, this endless, completely legitimate, but endless churn of news,” he said.

Earlier on Saturday, Johnson told BBC radio he rejected the notion that he should change his behaviour.

“If you’re saying you want me to undergo some sort of psychological transformation, I think that our listeners would know that that … is not going to happen.”

Party trouble

Johnson’s explanation for the defeat may do little to ease frustration in the Conservative Party.

A wave of resignations by senior ministers might force Johnson out before the next national election. The party’s chairman, Oliver Dowden, quit after the by-election defeats.

Former Conservative leaders Michael Howard and William Hague are the latest senior party figures to call for Johnson to go.

Asked what his message was for Conservative lawmakers who fear they could lose their seats at the next election, Johnson said: “We have to focus on the things that matter to voters, get it right on the cost of living, the economy.”

Johnson refused to comment on a report in The Times newspaper that he had planned to get a donor to fund a 150,000-pound ($184,000) treehouse for his son at his state-provided country residence.

The story comes months after his party was fined for failing to accurately report a donation which helped fund the refurbishment of his Downing Street apartment.

“I’m not going to comment on non-existent objects,” Johnson said when asked if he planned to use a donor’s money to build the treehouse.

ALSO READ-UK Invites Modi For G7 Summit In Cornwall

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Tory MP to meet police over ‘blackmail’ claim

Senior Tory backbencher William Wragg will be speaking to a Met Police detective in the House of Commons early next week, reports Asian Lite News

A senior Conservative backbencher who accused Prime Minister’s Office of trying to “blackmail” MPs seeking to oust Boris Johnson is to meet police to discuss his allegations, according to reports.

William Wragg said he will be speaking to a Met Police detective in the House of Commons early next week, after requesting a meeting with the force, the BBC reported.

The lawmaker, who wants the Prime Minister Boris Johnson to quit, said he wanted to leave any probe to “experts” rather than No 10.

He told the Daily Telegraph he would outline “several” examples of bullying and intimidation when he speaks to police.

“I stand by what I have said. No amount of gas-lighting will change that,” he said. “The offer of No 10 to investigate is kind but I shall leave it to the experts.”

Meanwhile, Downing Street said it had not seen any proof of the behaviour he alleges.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Picture by Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street

A No 10 spokesman said on Friday they were not investigating the allegations but would look “carefully” at any evidence presented to them, the BBC reported.

It comes as Tory whips and No 10 try to shore up support for the prime minster ahead of senior civil servant Sue Gray’s report into a series of Downing Street lockdown parties which is expected next week.

Johnson has been facing down an attempt from some Conservative MPs to oust him since he admitted attending a drinks event at No 10 during the first lockdown, although he says he believed it was a work event.

Earlier, Labour Party leader Keir Starmer had accused Johnson of breaking Covid laws with parties held in Downing Street during lockdown. He said the UK prime minister had “lied” about “industrial scale partying” in No 10.

However, Starmer told the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme he did not need to wait for the report to conclude that Johnson broke the rules.

“The facts speak for themselves, and the country has made up its mind,” he said, adding it was “blindingly obvious what’s happened”.

“I think he broke the law, I think he’s as good as admitted that he broke the law,” he added, the report said.

Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer speaks at the House of Commons. (UK Parliament_Jessica Taylor)

Pressure on Johnson has been growing since he admitted he attended a gathering in the Downing Street garden on 20 May 2020, during the first Covid lockdown.

As many as 100 people were invited to “socially distanced drinks in the No 10 garden” in an email on behalf of the prime minister’s principal private secretary, Martin Reynolds, the report said.

On Wednesday, Johnson told MPs he had “believed implicitly” it was a work event, but admitted: “With hindsight, I should have sent everyone back inside”.

ALSO READ: RIFT IN TORY RANKS