Inside Politics: Can the Big Dog bite back?

Boris Johnson faces MPs for the first time today after Monday night’s damaging confidence vote. He is being warned against taking a hard line on Brexit’s Northern Ireland protocol and urged to cut taxes. Elsewhere, Labour has called on authorities to investigate Sajid Javid’s tax affairs.

Our politics commentator Andrew Grice on what to look out for today:

All eyes will be on Boris Johnson at prime minister’s questions but also on the green benches behind him. Tory MPs who remain loyal to him will rally behind him but some of his 148 Tory opponents may stay away. Plenty of easy hits for Keir Starmer, surely.

Liz Truss, one of Johnson’s potential successors, is due to answer Commons questions about her women and equality brief.

Sajid Javid will try to return to “health week” on Downing Street’s heavily disrupted media grid by publishing a review aimed at improving leadership in health and social care.

Labour will table amendments to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill, which comes up for its second reading, in line with what the opposition calls the abandoned pledges in the Tories’ 2019 manifesto.

Boris Johnson’s fightback after Monday’s humiliating confidence ballot continues as he faces off against Keir Starmer in a crunch session of PMQs – the first since 148 rebel Tory MPs voted to remove the prime minister from office. But is there enough bite left in the Big Bog to get back on track and lead his party to another general election victory? Perhaps not, Westminster insiders close to one of his own strategists tell The Independent. David Canzini is said to be concerned that the PM doesn’t have the mettle to turn things around amid constant speculation about his future.

No 10 is preparing a flurry of policy announcements this week in an attempt to “draw a line” under questions about Johnson’s leadership, as he described it to ministers at a cabinet meeting yesterday. “Health week” continues with Sajid Javid, under fire for comments about the NHS, this morning announcing plans for an overhaul of leadership in the health and social care sector in England after a review found bullying and blame cultures. The health secretary is out on the broadcast round this morning giving more details on the proposals.

Johnson is also expected to plough ahead with plans to resurrect Margaret Thatcher’s right-to-buy housing policy. Meanwhile, promised legislation to take unilateral action on Brexit’s Northern Ireland protocol could come as early as today. And there are fears that the PM could take a harder line with Brussels after scraping through Monday’s vote, throwing red meat to backbenchers as he tries to shore up their support.

But there are warnings that the move could backfire, fuelling opposition to Johnson among traditionalist Conservatives who are horrified at the prospect of the government breaching international law by way of new legislation. “He is about to push the King Kong strategy for a few days, or a week or two,” a former cabinet minister, who has not called for Johnson to go, told The Independent. “But if you are talking about law-breaking, then that is an issue for those in Lib Dem-facing seats,” the MP added.

There are fresh concerns at the top of government about the legality of any legislation seeking to change the Brexit deal without consent from the EU, according to the Politics Home website, which has seen correspondence casting doubt on attorney general Suella Braverman’s claims that the move would not break international law.

Despite the planned policy announcements, it is the Tory rebels and their concerns – and by extension Johnson’s future – which continue to dominate the front of most major news outlets. There are reports that disgruntled MPs could go on “vote strikes” while some cabinet ministers and backbenchers are again calling for tax cuts. Many of those MPs have simultaneously called for cost of living help. Johnson is also being encouraged by allies to ditch Rishi Sunak and elevate Jeremy Hunt to chancellor in an effort to shore up his fragile leadership and prevent a Tory civil war.

The spread of stories in today’s papers and news websites is illustrative of why Monday night’s confidence vote was so damaging for Johnson. The rebellion was so large that Johnson, with his authority shot, now faces competing interests across all factions of his party and it appears that no one policy, or policies, will be enough to heal those divisions. The Conservative Party is often described as a broad church. The beams are being severely tested.

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Javid could well face questions about his tax affairs this morning after Labour called on authorities to investigate his financial affairs.

The party has penned a letter to HMRC requesting a fresh examination of the cabinet minister’s historic tax arrangements. It centres on Javid’s ties to a company called SA Capital.

These links raise the “possibility that he has been a beneficiary of a loan scheme designed to avoid paying UK tax”, said the shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting. A spokesperson for Javid said the request for an investigation was a “smear attempt” by the Labour Party.

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“It was really important at all stages that everyone stuck to the rules. It worked when people stuck to them. It is disappointing that that wasn’t the case.”

Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, on Partygate.

“Some talk of ‘vote strikes’ among frustrated Conservative rebels. But rather hard to see how an anti-Johnson coalition which runs from Damian Green to Mark Francois is going to form a cohesive unit on legislative issues.”

Henry Zeffman, The Times associate politics editor, says Tories who voted against PM may go on ‘vote strikes’.

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