Boris Johnson latest news: Hague says PM ‘in real trouble’ as Tory revolt grows

Boris Johnson has written to all civil servants announcing cuts to civil servants to “2016 levels,” according to reports.

He says: “As many families and businesses now look at how to reduce their costs in a period of higher global inflation, it is right that we do the same.”

“I have asked my Ministerial team and Permanent Secretaries to develop proposals to return the civil service to the size it was in 2016. I know that this will cause concern and uncertainty and I am sorry for that … I know the period of change ahead will not be easy.”

This comes following reports earlier in May when Boris Johnson announced he wanted to cut the civil service down by 90,000.

The government has pulled the plug on its “one-of-a-kind” agreement with P&O Ferries over its “unacceptable” sacking of nearly 800 workers.

The Home Office announced it was terminating the contract between the ferry firm and the Border Force agency with “immediate effect” on Monday evening.

P&O Ferries was widely condemned after replacing nearly 800 seafarers with cheaper agency workers without notice on 17 March.

The termination comes after the Department for Transport (DfT) conducted a review of links with the firm in the wake of the mass redundancies. The DfT said the review had been concluded and that the only contract identified with P&O Ferries had been broken off.

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A vote of no-confidence could come as early as next week, the former Conservative leader William Hague has predicted.

It comes amid a growing trickle of Tory MPs calling for the prime minister’s resignation in the wake of senior civil servant Sue Gray’s report into the Partygate scandal.

The former cabinet minister, Andrea Leadsom, said in a letter to constituents there were “unacceptable failings of leadership that cannot be tolerated and are the responsibility of the prime minister”.

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A government push to boost the use imperial measurements after Brexit will bring British “culture” back into shops, a minister has claimed.

Boris Johnson is expected to make an announcement this Friday to coincide with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee to pave the way for greater use of pounds, ounces, feet and inches.

Appearing to confirm the plan, technology minister Chris Philp told Sky News: “It’s allowing a bit of our national culture and heritage back onto the shop shelf.”

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Conservative former party leader and Cabinet minister Lord Hague of Richmond warned the prime minister “is in real trouble here”, adding MPs “are moving towards having a ballot”.

He told Times Radio: “Well I think Boris Johnson is in real trouble here and when an MP as reputable, as experienced, as respected as (Sir) Bob Neill who we were just listening to gives that opinion, that he’s just given, that’s very serious trouble for the prime minister and I think the Sue Gray report has been one of those sort of slow-fuse explosions in politics.

“It’s still going along, a lot of people misread it really, the events of last week as meaning the trouble is over, Boris is free and that’s actually not the mood in the Conservative Party which is very, very troubled about the contents of that report.

“So I think the Conservative Party will need to resolve this one way or another, obviously because to be an effective party they either need to rally behind the prime minister they’ve got, or they need to decide to force him out and I think they’re moving towards either next week or around the end of June, they are moving towards having a ballot, it looks like that.”

According to a new poll by Savanta Com Res, Labour would emerge victorious if an election was held today.

The poll taken between the 27 – 29 May shows Labour with 42 per cent of the vote (up two points) while the Conservatives take 31 per cent of the vote (down three points).

It comes as the prime minister is facing growing pressure to resign as the number of MPs publicly calling on him to step down increases. The latest blow comes from former minister Andrea Leadsom who condemned Boris Johnson’s “unacceptable failings of leadership.”

The number of MPs who have submitted letters of no confidence to Sir Graham Brady nears 30, but it is believed this number is higher.

Boris Johnson is facing renewed calls to quit after more Tory MPs submitted letters of no confidence following the publication of Sue Gray’s report into the partygate scandal.

A total of 28 Conservative backbenchers are now publicly demanding his removal, but behind the scenes others have privately said he should step down.

It comes after images emerged of the prime minister apparently drinking at a lockdown-breaking Downing Street event during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Former cabinet minister Andrea Leadsom has also weighed in on the publication of Sue Gray’s report into Partygate.

The South Northamptonshire MP said there have been “unacceptable failings of leadership” of which Boris Johnson is responsible.

She added: “My colleagues and I must now decide on what is right course of action that will restore confidence in our Government.”

She did not confirm in the letter to her constituents, whether she had handed in a letter of no confidence.

Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend the government’s graduate fast stream for at least a year amid deep civil service cuts has been labelled “very foolish” by a former Tory cabinet minister.

It comes after the government revealed plans earlier this month to cut the civil service headcount by 91,000 in a move that led to fury from unions and warnings of national strike action.

The highly competitive graduate scheme — hiring around 1,000 people on an annual basis — appears to be the first casualty of the cut despite criticism from some quarters, according to the Daily Telegraph.

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