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Boris Johnson faces Tory revolt over ‘dictator’ tactics as backlash grows over his plans for a new coronavirus crackdown
- Matt Hancock faced a series of hostile questions while updating Parliament on the government’s efforts to address the virus pandemic.
- Sir Graham Brady: “The British are not used to being treated like children.”
- Older conservatives questioned whether more national lockdown measures were needed, given the huge disparities in the number of cases across the country.
BORIS Johnson faced backlash from conservatives last night over ‘authoritarian’ plans for a new Covid crackdown.
Amid growing signs of unrest, Sir Graham Brady, the Conservative shop steward, said he would lead a revolt next week against the extension of the coronavirus restrictions.
And in the Commons, Health Secretary Matt Hancock faced a host of hostile questions from his own side while updating Parliament on the government’s efforts to address the virus pandemic.
Veteran MP Pauline Latham asked Hancock to “explain to the Prime Minister that we actually live in a democracy, not a dictatorship.” Sir Edward Leigh urged ministers to abandon the “authoritarian” approach, saying that the government seemed “increasingly incompetent”.
He told Hancock: “The problem with authoritarianism is that it is inimitable for civil liberties. It is also increasingly incompetent. It is based on acquiescence and acquiescence so that the confinements are disappearing.
Do you see my point? Boris Johnson talks to Angela Rippon yesterday as part of World Alzheimer’s Day
“We must rely on encouraging people to take care of themselves, protect the vulnerable and take responsibility for our own lives. That’s the conservative way. ‘ Sir Graham said he would force a vote in the Commons next week, which would require ministers to get parliamentary approval for any other blocking measures.
The chairman of the 1922 Committee of Backing Conservative MPs said ministers “had become used to ruling by decree”, adding: “The British people are not used to being treated like children.”
Health Secretary Matt Hancock faced a series of hostile questions while updating Parliament on the government’s efforts to address the virus pandemic.
Sir Graham said the public deserved to be told the criteria for incorporating, and eventually lifting, what he described as “really quite extreme emergency powers.”
He said increased scrutiny of the so-called ‘rule of six’ would have allowed MPs to question why the cap was set at six rather than eight or ten and why children were included in England rather than Wales or Scotland. .
And he questioned whether the lockdown strategy had worked, pointing to the situation in Sweden, where no such restrictions were applied.
Downing Street rejected the suggestion that the government was ruling by decree. The prime minister’s spokesman said MPs will have a chance to debate and vote on the extension of the coronavirus regulations next week.
Some high-ranking conservatives questioned whether more national lockdown measures were needed, given the huge disparities in the number of cases across the country.
Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: “If we lock down the economy, it will lead to more health and death problems than Covid does.”
It came when Johnson met with broadcaster Angela Rippon to mark World Alzheimer’s Day and vowed to support people with dementia during the pandemic.
Miss Rippon became an ambassador for the Alzheimer’s Society after taking care of her mother Edna, who had dementia.
Charities have warned about the impact of the lockdown and the virus on the sick.
