Boris Johnson was warned by Tory MPs that the voters won’t forget the Conservative Party’s failure to tackle the record-breaking influx of migrants across the English Channel.
There is growing concern among senior Tory officials that a new right wing political party might emerge in order to profit from the topic, and this could lead to Mr Johnson being hammered at the ballot box.
The poll came just as three quarters of Tory voters believed the Government was ‘too soft” on the subject.
Boris Johnson was warned by Tory MPs that the voters won’t forget the Conservative Party’s failure to tackle the record-breaking influx of migrants across the English Channel.
Lifeboat crews help migrants who arrive onboard a dinghy yesterday at Dungeness Beach, Kent.
Mr Johnson has ordered a Whitehall review into the Channel crossings and is said to be ‘exasperated’ by his Government’s failure to reduce the number of migrants making the journey in small boats.
Former Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, has been put in charge of the review.
It will seek to find solutions to the crisis and make sure all departments – not only the Home Office – are contributing.
This review comes after a record week of migrant Channel crossings. On Tuesday, 1,000 reached Britain and 24,000 made the trip this year. It is nearly triple the amount that arrived in 2020.
A Tory donor told The Sunday Telegraph that ministers must do ‘far more’ as they warned the issue is ‘going to destroy us and there is going to be a Farage-style party’.
They advised MrJohnson to shift towards the political center ground as it will “open up a space” on the right flank of the PM, which would leave room for another party that could endanger the Tories’ majority in a future election.
Last week, the PM faced questions from the 1922 Committee of Tory Members.
Former Cabinet minister Sir Iain Duncan Smith is said to have challenged Mr Johnson at the meeting, telling the PM: ‘Migration was in our manifesto, it was in our DNA. They won’t be forgiving us if we fail to do it.
He was reportedly met by his backbench colleagues with an enthusiastic banging on the desks to show support.
A poll for the Sunday Telegraph found that 77 per cent of Tory voters believe the Government’s approach to the migrant crossings is ‘too soft’. This was 55% overall for the general public.
Pictured: A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, by a Border Force vessel, following a small boat incident in the Channel, Saturday November 20, 2021. Priti Patel has been a thorn in her side with officials during the current migrant crisis.
The survey, conducted by Redfield & Wilton Strategies, also found 54 per cent of voters disapproved of Mr Johnson’s handling of the issue while 21 per cent approved.
Tory MPs now look ahead to the local elections in May next year as a possible litmus test.
A former minister said to the newspaper that if we fail to deliver on immigration, it is very damaging for us. These people are truly fed up.