Covid: Does the PM's lockdown 2.0 risk pleasing no-one?
- Published
"We can't come back from this." "It's rock bottom." "It's a shambles." "I'm thoroughly fed up."
I could go on, and provide much less polite versions of the same sentiment heard in Westminster today, but you get the point.
Lots of Boris Johnson's own MPs are hacked off, seriously hacked off.
That's not just the significant Tory contingent who believed that he lacked some of the characteristics required for the most challenging political job in the land to start with.
But also many of the MPs who have been on the prime minister's side have felt despairing in the last 48 hours about his sudden switch to backing another lockdown across England.
As Boris Johnson stood at the despatch box today however, defending the policy he had himself mocked on exactly the same spot less than a fortnight ago, only a sprinkling of Tory MPs were angry enough, or indeed brave enough, to vent their anger.
Yes, senior MPs like Sir Graham Brady and Sir Charles Walker are against the new lockdown.
Many newer Tory MPs believe, as William Wragg expressed it on the green benches tonight, that the government needs a "reboot" in what it does, and how it operates.
But despite countless furious soundings off, the voices speaking out in public are few and far between.
In the chaos of the weekend, a senior figure inside government wondered aloud whether No 10 might have to rely on opposition votes to pass the decision they had reluctantly come to.
Stuck in the middle?
On today's Common's outings, it doesn't seem that's likely to come to pass (If you often are part of our conversations here, you'll be wise enough though to know, never say never, rebellions can blow up as quickly as they disappear).
Tonight though, Boris Johnson is stuck in between two groups.
First, MPs on his own side who have become institutionally cross, but in the main, reluctantly swallow the government's plans, flaws and all.
And second, MPs opposite who are frustrated at the government's handling of things, but don't disagree enough with the central features of the government's plan to try to block it.
And so, the prime minister can proceed with lockdown 2.0, pleasing no one, but with not much standing in his way.
- Published22 February 2022
