Forget Keir Starmer, Boris Johnson is also under threat from those within his own party

Just when the prime minister is finally up against a credible external opposition, he faces a challenge from his own backbench, writes John Rentoul

Spin is no good in a crisis (EPA)

The prime minister has been warned not to meet Sir Graham Brady, the backbench Conservative advocate of lifting the coronavirus lockdown, on his own, while Jacob Rees-Mogg is leading the charge from within government for parliament to set an example by going back to normal.

The nervousness of Boris Johnson’s aides about Sir Graham, chair of the 1922 Committee and representative of backbench Tory MPs, was revealed by the prime minister himself, as he was photographed clutching a memo outside his folder in Downing Street.

Sir Graham will, “as he has previously, seek to ensure that it is just the two of you”, Johnson was warned by “BG”, presumably Ben Gascoigne, one of his political advisers. “It is important that at least the Chief [whip] stays in the room.” BG went on to warn that Sir Graham “will almost certainly raise the Covid response and the lockdown”, having previously called for lifting restrictions as quickly as possible.