Not a chance in hell Johnson will resign, says former May aide

There is not “a chance in hell” that Boris Johnson will stand down voluntarily, a Tory peer has said, as a former Conservative Pary leader warned it would be a “very difficult task” to win back the trust of the public.
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Gavin Barwell, who served as chief of staff to Theresa May and now sits in the House of Lords, said there was a “strong case for change” at the top of government.

But he said Mr Johnson would not leave office of his own accord.

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Speaking on Sky’s ‘Trevor Phillips On Sunday’, Lord Barwell said: “My inclination is that the Conservative Party would be better making a change and I also think, for the good of the country in terms of trust and faith in our politics, there’s a strong case for change.

Prime Minister Boris JohnsonPrime Minister Boris Johnson
Prime Minister Boris Johnson

“But it’s not up to me to make a decision.

“Ultimately, this is a decision that, up until the next election at least, is one for Conservative MPs.”

He added: “I don’t think there’s a chance in hell that the prime minister is going to voluntarily resign.

“He’s going to stay there unless Conservative MPs remove him or unless he loses an election. And so, you know, I don’t see any prospect of him voluntarily standing down.”

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Meanwhile, former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said the Downing Street partygate saga and its aftermath had been “hugely damaging” and the public were “very angry”.

Asked whether it was possible to recover the reputation of the party with Boris Johnson remaining as prime minister, he told the BBC’s ‘Sunday Morning’ programme: “None of us know the answer to that question … Respect and trust you have to earn, and when you lose it, it’s very difficult task to get it back across the board.

“And so that’s going to be a huge task. The government and the prime minister have set out to try and do that.”

It comes as the prime minister attempts to reset his premiership by bringing in two allies to Downing Street in senior roles.

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Mr Johnson has appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Steve Barclay as his chief of staff, and journalist Guto Harri as his director of communications.

But questions have been asked about how much time Mr Barclay will be able to commit to the role while also being a Cabinet minister and an MP.

Comments made by Mr Harri criticising the PM in recent weeks have also surfaced.

Lord Barwell said Mr Barclay would have to find “a different way” to do the job than he did “because he’s combining it with being a government minister and an MP at the same time, so he’s going to have to find a way of doing the job in a different way”.

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He told Sky’s ‘Trevor Phillips On Sunday’: “And then the second challenge, and I think probably the key one, is whether the prime minister is going to listen to the good advice that he will give.”

He added: “There’s only so much different advisors can make if the person at the top is not actually listening to the advice that we’re giving.”

Some 15 Tory MPs have now publicly called for Mr Johnson to resign but not all have sent letters of no confidence to 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady.

Privately, the numbers are expected to be higher, but Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng told Times Radio: “My own view is that we’re probably not that near the letters (threshold) but I don’t know – until we reach that point I think it’s idle speculation.”

Sir Charles Walker, a former vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee, told The Observer Mr Johnson’s departure was an “inevitable tragedy”.