Hotelier Rocco Forte demands PM changes course as Commons battle looms over tensions with EU
, after accusing him of overseeing an un-Conservative government, delivering a “pathetic” tax-cutting pledge and refusing to heed calls to change the course of his premiership.within days and a mounting revolt among party backers after last week’s humiliating confidence vote, the hotelier Sir Rocco Forte said that he “will not put up” with the direction Johnson is taking the party.
Boris Johnson with the billionaire John Caudwell in 2014. The Phones4U founder wants more investment by the government.“If you’re running a business, you don’t feel this government is behind you in any way. That’s what a Conservative government is supposed to be about.
John Caudwell, the billionaire founder of Phones4U who gave the Tories £500,000 before the last election, would not state if Johnson should go, but called for more investment. “Rather than prudence we need to borrow on an unprecedented scale and invest wisely, productively and profitably,” he said, pointing to renewable energy, infrastructure, subsidies for industry and apprenticeships.
Unease among donors and grandees is another sign that, despite relative calm among MPs since Monday’s vote, Johnson remains on unstable ground. A confrontation is already building over Brexit.
There have been frantic legal and political negotiations taking place between Johnson, his cabinet and MPs in the past week. Johnson had been pressed to take a hard line and effectively override the protocol.