Do the Tories really care about people like us? It’s in part because millions of voters are beginning to doubt the answer to this question that Boris Johnson is in so much trouble, writes Allister Heath.
The Prime Minister’s traumatic fight against the establishment over Brexit turned him into a hero to swathes of the country; two years on, that goodwill has been squandered, and many of his 2019 working class recruits fear that the Tories have reverted to type, a feeling confirmed by the lurid tales of illicit wine-guzzling.
But “partygate” is merely the last straw after a series of disappointments, the explosive, infuriating symbol of a Government that forgot that its mission was to stand up for a silent majority long ignored by metropolitan Tories and Labour alike.
Buffeted by Covid, irritated by failures on illegal migration and crime, Johnson’s people – in the shires and in the red wall – are in the grip of a vicious, intensifying cost of living crisis that, bizarrely, he is preparing to reinforce with hikes to National Insurance (NI).
The traditional argument for voting Tory – that they will make you better off – is no longer credible.
Allister Heath: Boris must start by scrapping National Insurance rise
Credit: Source link
