BORIS IS STILL A WINNER

PM backed but told, ‘solve migrant crisis’

-  David Williamson

LOYAL Red Wall Tory MPs are still backing “winner” Boris Johnson to lead them into the next election.

A disastrous fortnight for the Prime Minister has seen him on the back foot since the Owen Paterson debacle, about which he admitted: “On a clear road I crashed the car into a ditch.”

He is also facing demands he deal with the migrant crisis, while Labour has branded changes to HS2, which saw the high speed eastern leg to Leeds scrapped, as a betrayal of the North.

But Tory MPs in Red Wall seats – the traditional Labour strongholds that voted Conservative in 2019 – say Mr Johnson remains a strength on the doorsteps and is the best person to lead the party into the next election.

And prominent members of the 2019 Tory intake acknowledge they owe their election victories to his party leadership.

Mark Fletcher, who turned Dennis Skinner’s Bolsover seat from red to blue, said: “The PM is a brilliant politician and leader. His optimism and vision for where the country is going remains undiminished.”

Lia Nici, the first Conservative to win Great Grimsby since the Second World War, also wants Mr Johnson to stay in post. She said: “Boris is absolutely the right man to lead the country now and through the next election cycle.”

Ashfield Conservative MP Lee Anderson had blunt advice for his colleagues: “If he does make a few blunders, make a few mistakes, you should remember that we’re in Parliament because of him.”

However, there is agreement the Prime Minister needs to tackle illegal immigration to address the concern of voters in the former Labour heartlands.