Prime minister is likely to face questions over ‘eat out to help out’ scheme and his lockdown-sceptical stance
In his interviews this morning Grant Shapps, the defence secretary, defended Rishi Sunak’s record during Covid, claiming that as chancellor Sunak “saved the economy”. He told GB News:
It’s so easy in hindsight to look at all these things with 20/20 vision and say ‘Ah, if only you had done X at Y moment in time’. The fact of the matter is Rishi Sunak, during Covid, saved millions of jobs in this country through the furlough programme and saved millions of businesses as well, with huge amounts of support – over £400bn.
I think we should actually remember that he was the guy who saved the economy, an economy which – against all the expectations previously – has actually grown this year as a result of the decisions he made not to allow businesses and jobs to go.
One Tory MP said: ‘When Farage comes back he’s going to be all over the airwaves, and he’s going to have us in his sights.’
Another said: ‘Reform are going to kill us, so we have to buy Farage off. The plan is we get him into the Lords, give him some brief like we did with Cameron – maybe even home secretary – then go to the country with the dream team.
The Mail on Sunday has spoken to multiple Conservative MPs who believe that bringing back the former premier is the only way to save the party from an election wipe-out …
One red qall MP told the MoS: ‘I came out early to say [Johnson] had to go. But I think we have to think outside the box now. Whatever you feel about him, one thing no one can question is his effectiveness as a campaigner. And we need that now, we’re staring at obliteration.
Cabinet colleagues accuse Kemi Badenoch, the trade secretary, of calling another minister to say: “The ship is heading for the rocks. What are we going to do about the captain?” One cabinet minister entertaining thoughts of a leadership run said: “Kemi’s people are already offering jobs. I know that because one of my people was approached.”
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