Inside Politics: Significant Tory rebellion as social care plan voted through Commons

Boris Johnson narrowly saw off a Tory rebellion last night to get his amended health and social care plans through the Commons. The PM’s hefty 80-seat majority was slashed to just 26 as MPs voted 272-246 in favour. But just as it was in the vote to rip up sleaze rules earlier this month, it was perhaps what didn’t happen that tells much of the story. On top of the 19 rebels who defied whips to join the Labour Party in voting against the government – former senior ministers Esther McVey and Mark Harper among them – there were around 70 Conservatives who either abstained or had no ballot recorded. Theresa May, Robert Buckland, Sir Ian Duncan Smith, David Davis, Jeremy Hunt, and Tom Tugendhat were some of the Tory heavyweights who felt they couldn’t justify backing changes to the £86,000 cap on social care costs. It remains to be seen whether the bill will get through parliament in its current form. Immediately more concerning for the PM may be the reaction from some within his own party to the speech he gave to business leaders yesterday. The general consensus is that he made a pig’s ear of an address to the CBI annual conference in the Port of Tyne and the story makes the front of most news outlets this morning, including the Financial Times, which brands the speech the “northern ramble”.

Cabinet meets this morning, hoping the prime minister can find his place in his notes. Questions to Sajid Javid, the health and social care secretary, start in the Commons at 12.30, followed by the remaining stages of yesterday’s health and care bill. Nadine Dorries will appear before the Digital, Culture, Media and Sports Committee for the first time as secretary of state for the department. Zac Goldsmith, the environment minister, will give evidence on tree-planting and climate change to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.

Coming up:

– Health committee chairman Jeremy Hunt on BBC Radio 4 Today at 8.10am

– Former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale on Times Radio Breakfast at 9.05am

REBEL REBEL: Despite a large chunk of his colleagues refusing to back the amendment, health minister Edward Argar insisted that the reforms mean that no one would lose out on costs compared with the current system. Several think tanks and charities have slammed the plans as a “regressive” policy. Labour pounced on another significant government rebellion with Liz Truss, the shadow minister for social care, accusing Tory MPs who voted through the amendment of breaking “the promise they were elected on that nobody would have to sell their home to pay for care.” “Instead they voted to tax ordinary working people, while the wealthiest in our country are unaffected,” she added. The measure now faces further opposition as it moves to the House of Lords, where former pensions minister Baroness Altman is among Tories threatening to rewrite Johnson’s plans. She told The Independent the scheme was “a perfect example of protecting the very well off and taking money away from those who are not well-off”.

YOUR SPEECH IS A MESS: Last night’s Commons vote came following another difficult day for Johnson, who in his CBI speech made car noises, referenced children’s TV programme, Peppa Pig, and lost his place, going silent on stage for what seemed like an eternity. One Sky News journalist quipped that the address was more excruciating than May’s disastrous 2017 conference speech. And while that may be slightly hyperbolic, it was certainly painful to watch. Johnson was forced to defend himself such was the lacklustre nature of the display. Senior government figures are now once again questioning whether he is up to the challenge of leading the country. “It was not his finest hour,” one told The Independent. “But we haven’t had many fine hours recently. We’re the party of business. This tone was just off, frankly, and a bit embarrassing.” Keir Starmer also spoke at the conference, where he promised to make it his “mission” to raise the level of skills of a generation of young people entering the workplace for the first time, reset his party’s relationship with business and a pledge to “make Brexit work” if elected to office.

YOU CAN’T GET ENOUGH: Lord Frost just can’t get enough of post-Brexit Britain. The Cabinet Office minister, once a cheerleader for the European project but now a full Brexit convert, yesterday described England as the “freest country in the world” as he hailed the lack of Covid restrictions. “I am very happy that free Britain, or at least merry England, is probably now the freest country in the world as regards Covid restrictions,” he said. “No mask rules, no vaccine passports. Long may it remain so.” In a speech delivered to attendees at a Centre for Policy Studies event at London’s Guidhall, Frost also said moving away from EU rules is a “national necessity” and the UK must strive towards lower taxes to be successful. Elsewhere in Brexit, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the international trade secretary, admitted that the government would “absolutely not” trigger Article 16 before the end of the year.

LIGHTS OUT: Labour accused the government of a decade of inaction which has left the UK “exposed and vulnerable as a country” after the news that energy supplier Bulb is set to be placed into special administration, as the crisis engulfing UK energy suppliers deepened. The company will be by far the largest supplier to go into administration or out of business this year amid soaring wholesale energy prices. Bulb will continue to supply its 1.7 million customers while the special administrators work out longer-term plans, which could include a rescue or the transfer of customers to other suppliers. “Families hit by a cost of living crisis will be deeply worried about what this collapse means for them, as will the workers at Bulb,” said shadow business secretary Ed Miliband. Asked about Bulb’s difficulties, prime minister Boris Johnson’s official spokesperson said the government was moving the situation along as quickly as possible.“The special administration regime which Bulb will fall under is a long-standing, well-established mechanism to protect energy consumers and ensure continued energy supply when a supplier fails,” he said.

AFGHAN WARNING: The government has been warned that Afghan refugees who are eligible for a UK resettlement scheme could “die before it becomes operational” after a three-month delay. Ministers pledged to relocate up to 20,000 people after the Taliban takeover of the country in August, but the scheme has not yet started and is still in the design stage. Campaigners accused the government of “dawdling” after failing to prepare for the consequences of military withdrawal from Afghanistan, while an MP said one of her constituents had already seen two relatives murdered by the Taliban.

“DHSC Ministers haven’t properly worked with the sector or MPs to explain their thinking or decisions. As Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Learning Disability I want to make sure we focus on working age adults, not just older people, unlike these proposals. What next? DHSC Ministers should withdraw the amendment tonight and include their proposal in the White Paper on social care due before the year end. We can then discuss and consider it properly with all the facts at our disposal. I want our social care reforms to work.”

Former Tory chief whip Mark Harper sets out why he planned to vote against social care amendment.

“Tory MP on Johnson’s speech to the CBI: ‘just embarrassing’”.

Conservative MP tells Financial Times chief political correspondent Jim Pickard exactly what they thought of PM’s speech.

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