Last night, a senior minister in the Cabinet increased pressure on Boris Johnson for tax cuts. This was just one of many bruising days for Johnson.
In a rare public intervention on domestic policy, former Brexit negotiator Lord Frost said low taxes were ‘the formula for success as a country’.
He also said the UK must move away from EU rules so Britain can ‘step up and compete at a global level’.
After ‘shambolic’ speech to businesses, No10 sources voice ‘concern’ – then Brexit chief weighs in on tax cuts
It came after Mr Johnson was forced to apologise to the CBI for losing his thread for more than 20 seconds during a speech to the business lobby group’s annual conference.
He also raised eyebrows by making repeated references to the children’s cartoon character Peppa Pig.
Following clashes about Brexit, Johnson was trying to repair relations with large business in his CBI speech.
The BBC last night quoted a ‘senior Downing Street source’ that claimed the speech was ‘shambolic’ and that there was ‘a lot of concern inside the building’ about the Prime Minister.
The source added: ‘It’s just not working. Cabinet needs to wake up and demand serious changes otherwise it’ll keep getting worse.
‘If they don’t insist, he just won’t do anything about it.’ No 10 declined to comment on the claim. But a Government insider dismissed the charge as ‘total nonsense’, adding: ‘That is absolutely not the feeling in the building – it couldn’t be more wrong.’
In a rare public intervention on domestic policy, former Brexit negotiator Lord Frost, pictured said low taxes were ‘the formula for success as a country’
Tory MP Peter Bone also rallied round, saying: ‘The idea that the Government is falling apart because the PM’s speech got a bit mixed up is clearly ridiculous. The BBC should focus on the issues.’
A source told the Daily Mail that the Prime Minister’s long pause, in which he shuffled through the pages of his address, had occurred because he had been accidentally handed a copy of the speech in the wrong order.
However, the pressure on Johnson grew as Lord Frost, his Cabinet Office minister and close ally, gave a speech at the Centre for Policy Studies.
At last month’s Budget, the Prime Minister had overruled Chancellor Rishi Sunak, insisting public spending should be raised despite the poor state of the public finances.
The Chancellor then set out an ambitious goal to reduce taxes before the next election.
And last night Lord Frost told the centre-Right think-tank: ‘We know what the formula for success as a country is: it’s low taxes. I agree with the Chancellor as he said in his Budget speech – our goal must be to reduce taxes.
It’s about light-touch and proportionate regulation, whatever the policy objectives you’re trying to pursue. Free trade is also possible.
‘Increasing consumer choice while reducing consumer costs. Ensuring competition stops complacency – keeping our economy fit and responsive to innovation and progress abroad.’
Boris Johnson enjoyed a day at Peppa Pig World with his son, one year old.
Lord Frost also stressed the importance of Britain pursuing its own path after Brexit. He said: ‘We haven’t successfully rolled back the frontiers of the EU with Brexit, only to import the European model after all this time.
‘So we need to reform fast and those reforms are going to involve doing things differently from the EU. If we stick to EU models, but behind our own tariff wall and with a smaller market, obviously we are not going to succeed.’
Mr Johnson had told the CBI conference: ‘I have never been anything other than business’s number one fan… the true driver of growth is not Government, it is the energy and dynamism and originality of the private sector.’
He said it was time for Government to ‘get out of your hair’, adding that ministers should ‘make sure there is less regulation and indeed less taxation’.
He then hailed the global success of Peppa Pig, telling business leaders the children’s cartoon was a great example of British creativity.
The Prime Minister asked the delegates if they’d ever been to Peppa Pig World in the New Forest.
Peppa Pig World, Romsey in Hampshire is located at Paultons Park.
Mr Johnson told the audience of business leaders in Newcastle he had visited the attraction with his wife Carrie and son Wilfred on Sunday, hailing it as ‘my kind of place’.
‘It has safe streets, discipline in schools, a heavy emphasis on new mass transit systems,’ he said. ‘Even if they are a bit stereotypical about Daddy Pig.’ The PM said the hit show, which has been a huge export, showed ‘the power of UK creativity’ and entrepreneurship.
Mr Johnson’s former adviser Guto Harri said the references were an effective way of making a point about the value of the creative industries, adding: ‘It was classic Boris.’
Asked by ITV after the speech if ‘everything was OK’, the Prime Minister said: ‘I think that people got the vast majority of the points that I wanted to make and I thought it went over well.’