Lord Frost, the former chief negotiator for exiting the EU, has warned Boris Johnson that he has until the autumn of 2022 to change direction and save his premiership, or risk being removed.
After Johnson survived a confidence vote on Monday [June 6], in which 41 per cent of Tory MPs voted against him, Lord Frost has said that the onus is now on the PM to set out a “clear policy direction with broad support” which was grounded on “freedom and individual liberty not collectivism”.
Writing in The Telegraph, Lord Frost said that the “depth of opposition” from Johnson’s fellow Conservatives can no longer be ignored and that support needed to be won back or his colleagues would once more try to remove him.
The peer went on to suggest that the government’s biggest issue was not regaining public trust following the Partygate saga, but instead making it clear to voters what the government's agenda is.
Lord Frost wrote: “Every prime minister has weaknesses and blind spots. The issue is whether they are able to compensate for them, by having the right people, by taking good advice, and by setting a clear policy direction with broad support.
“Mr Johnson probably has between now and the party conference to show he can do that.”
Lord Frost went on to say that reducing the tax burden on the British people should be a priority for government in its agenda and recommended that Johnson brings in fresh talent by reshuffling his top team to help deliver on it.
He said that the government needed to “credibly” commit to future tax cuts, reduce VAT on energy bills and resume fracking in the UK, and that the PM ought to appoint a “serious deputy” to help “design and deliver the strategy”.
Lord Frost also suggested that Johnson was too averse to “upsetting people” to make the required changes, but urged him to make the tough decisions necessary.
“This is ambitious. I can see why many people think the prime minister can't deliver it. He doesn't like upsetting people. But any serious plan means making choices,” Lord Frost wrote.“Many of us still want him to succeed and will support him if he shows a sense of purpose. But he has to show things will be different now.”
Image taken from Wikimedia Commons
