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LONDON — A Conservative MP has accused Boris Johnson’s government of “blackmail” over its treatment of MPs who have called for the prime minister to resign.
William Wragg, chairman of a select committee and serial rebel, said critics of Johnson have faced “pressure and intimidation” including the threat of withholding funds from their constituencies.
A group of 20 Conservative MPs gathered this week to discuss a strategy for ousting their leader, dubbed the “pork pie putsch.”
Wragg said he had received reports of ministers, advisers and staff at No. 10 “encouraging the publication of stories in the press seeking to embarrass” those suspected of plotting to remove Johnson. He said Downing Street had threatened to pull funding to MPs’ constituencies unless they dial down their opposition to Mr Johnson.
Speaking during a committee session, Wragg claimed the reports “would seem to constitute blackmail” and urged MPs targeted in this way to contact the Commons Speaker and London’s Metropolitan Police.
A No. 10 spokesman said: “We are not aware of any evidence to support what are clearly serious allegations. If there is any evidence to support these claims we would look at it very carefully.”
Wragg is one of the cluster of Conservative MPs who have called publicly for Johnson to resign amid the continuing fallout from a series of damaging allegations about rule-breaking parties in Downing Street and Whitehall.
He told the BBC last week: “A series of unforced errors are deeply damaging to the perception of the party. The prime minister’s position is untenable.”
Source: Politico
