Boris Johnson: Not a ‘chance in hell’ PM will go voluntarily, says Tory peer

Gavin Barwell says ‘strong case for change’ at No 10

A senior Conservative peer has said there is not “a chance in hell” that Boris Johnson can be persuaded to resign voluntarily, predicting that he will cling to power until forced out by his party.

Gavin Barwell who served as chief of staff to Theresa May and now sits in the Lords, also said there was a “strong case for change” at Downing Street as he joined colleagues condemning the prime minister over Partygate.

But he said Mr Johnson would not leave office of his own accord. “I don’t think there’s a chance in hell that the Prime Minister is going to voluntarily resign,” he told Sky News’ 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.

“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: “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.”

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 PM, 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.”

Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith being interviewed by host Sophie Raworth (Jeff Overs/BBC) (PA Media)

He added: “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 PM attempts to reset his premiership by bringing in two allies to Downing Street in senior roles.

Mr Johnson has appointed Cabinet Office minister Steve Barclay as his chief of staff, and ex-BBC 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”.

He added: “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.”

Gavin Barwell in Downing Street in London (Victoria Jones/PA) (PA Archive)

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

Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said it was “absolutely right” for the PM to “try and get the Cabinet Office and No 10 working more cohesively together” with his new appointments.

He told Sky News that this was recommended in Sue Gray’s report into parties held across Whitehall during Covid-19 measures, and that it had been “very difficult to see where the accountability was”.

He said the “ongoing focus on partygate is not helping anyone”, telling the BBC: “We’ve got a serious agenda, we’ve got a potential war situation in Ukraine … we’ve got cost of living issues to deal with, there are very serious concerns about how we bounce back from the pandemic.

“So I don’t think focusing on the parties is necessarily the best way for us to get through this.”

Some 14 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.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng before appearing on the BBC1 current affairs programme, Sunday Morning (Jeff Overs/BBC) (PA Media)

Privately, the numbers are expected to be higher, but Mr 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”.

But Mr Kwarteng said this was not the case. He told Trevor Phillips On Sunday: “He’s entitled to his view, as I’m entitled to mine.

“And I have to say Trevor, you know this, lots and lots of people have said things are inevitable and they never happened over the last few years, and I just want to wait and see.”

Sir Iain said he still thought Mr Johnson was the right person to lead “at the moment”. He said other political players who may be vying for a leadership bid should “temper their ambition” for now.

“Ambition is a thing that exists in all of us, but it’s ambition at the right time. I would say to people, ‘temper your ambition’,” he said.