According to former cabinet member Nadine Dorries, Boris Johnson has described Rishi Sunak as a “puppet” intentionally selected by his former top advisor Dominic Cummings.
Johnson stated that Cummings had revealed he began planning to remove him in January 2020. The intention was always to replace him with Rishi. Johnson was initially unaware of this plan, comparing it to the plot of a Manchurian candidate with Cummings as their puppet.
Johnson’s criticism of Sunak was expressed through a series of interviews with his loyal supporter, Dorries, for her book titled “The Plot: The Political Elimination of Boris Johnson,” released on Thursday.
Johnson fired Cummings in late 2020 following a heated disagreement between the two individuals.
Johnson also said the Conservatives are “drifting into defeat” under Sunak. The former prime minister told Dorries the current government was losing voters in “red wall” seats that had voted for Brexit, where he said people were going back to supporting Labour.
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He stated that the country needs a positive plan for change in order to address the dissatisfaction felt by the people. Despite voting for change in 2019, many are returning to the Labour party in the Brexit seats due to the lack of tangible changes being made by the current government.
“We have no cause to unite behind, we are simply aimlessly drifting towards failure.”
Johnson stated that there needs to be a major intervention in order to prevent the same outcome of the local elections from occurring in a general election. He also expressed disappointment in the current state of affairs and the missed opportunity to continue with their successful agenda, given their 80-seat majority.
He also disagreed with Sunak’s choice to increase the corporate tax rate from 19p to 25p, which was initially announced in 2021 when he served as Johnson’s chancellor. He proposed lowering the rate to 10p and questioned, “Why are we raising corporation tax in such a manner? It’s completely nonsensical.”
Johnson suggested reducing corporation tax to 10%, similar to the approach of Ireland. He also proposed surpassing Ireland’s tax rate. He expressed frustration and anger, feeling restrained and ready to strike. He believes that the country is becoming directionless and losing focus.
Source: theguardian.com
