Boris Johnson warned of his future after bad polls
Mr Johnson has been a major figure in Conservative Party politics for many years, becoming its leader – and again Prime Minister – in 2019. The Tank Chief has claimed Mr Johnson has very little time in office.
Ben Harris-Quinney, chairman of the Bow Group, Britain’s oldest conservative think tank, has predicted that the Prime Minister could face “a serious challenge to his leadership” after the next election.
He told Express.co.uk that this election “is likely to return Britain to the territory of unoccupied parliaments or very small majorities,” which would result in the Tories trying to rearrange their top positions.
The cause of the voter complaints was not a question of personality, but the political orientation of Mr Johnson’s Conservative Party.
Harris-Quinney said: “Boris has lost confidence in the conservative movement on issues such as immigration and his green agenda.”
“Nobody is guilty”, Boris warned “Blairite Politics”, time has run out – “11 years of fraud”. (Image: Getty)
Boris Johnson. (Image: Getty)
He added that while Mr Johnson was portrayed as “conservatism’s great hope” – particularly because of his apparent support for the Brexit movement – it soon emerged that he was “just another Blairite metropolitan liberal in a different skin”.
While Mr Johnson “spoke a good game” prior to his election, he “failed to deliver” after he came to power.
Harris-Quinney said, “He’s not the patriotic conservative he sold himself to be.”
Perhaps the area where this is most evident is immigration.
READ MORE: Boris on the sidelines as voters turn on Tories
Boris Johnson. (Image: Getty)
Ipsos MORI query. (Image: Ipsos MORI)
Despite serving as the figurehead in the Brexit campaign, which was heavily focused on the need to regain control of UK borders from the EU, Mr Johnson has long been an advocate of light immigration control.
In a 2012 Telegraph column, he insisted the British “must stop whining about the breach” of immigration.
He has also long been an advocate of the amnesty for illegal migrants.
The post-Brexit immigration system has been criticized by commentators and groups, including Migration Watch UK, for failing to address the issue of the number of migrants entering the UK legally or illegally each year.
Harris-Quinney said: “People did not vote for Brexit just to change the continent of origin of immigrants to Britain, they voted to end legal and illegal mass immigration.
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Crossing the Migrant Canal to Great Britain. (Image: Express)
“Mass immigration is also the main reason the public voted Labor and Conservatives out of office in 2010, but it is now likely that more immigrants have come during the Conservative government than during the Labor years.”
A recent poll found that nearly three-quarters of Britons believe Mr Johnson did a “bad job” on immigration.
Another big point of contention – also in the ranks of the Tory MPs – is the green agenda.
In an annual address to the think tank, Sir John Redwood, a senior patron of the Bow Group and Tory backbencher, called on the Prime Minister to reconsider his net-zero policy twice.
He said: “The government should not demolish power plants while there are security of supply issues …
“We are blessed with access to a lot of oil and gas. It’s greener and more reliable to have your own sources of energy instead of importing them and just relying on the goodwill of foreigners.
“So I urge the government to reverse its policies and introduce policies that are domestic first.”
Boris Johnson. (Image: Getty)
It came after an Ipsos MORI poll suggested the British believe Mr Johnson’s government did a “bad job” on almost every measure – including managing the economy (usually a Tory strength), dealing with Brexit and above all the administration of immigration – aside from the fact that the population is vaccinated against Covid “as soon as possible”.
However, the Bow Group chairman added that the Conservative Party’s problems extend beyond Mr Johnson’s reign.
Setting out a crushing charge against the party, he said: “The Conservatives have been in power for eleven years and the government has operated solely to Blair’s left in all major policy areas.
“There is no one to blame anymore, it is the Conservative Party’s fault, and the public is now calling for an 11 year old fraud.”
The next federal election will take place in 2024 at the latest.
10 Downing Street was requested to comment.