Boris Johnson is set to face the wrath of MPs as he returns to the Commons after presiding over a series of U-turns.
The Prime Minister has come under fire for changing key Government policies on a regular basis – most recently on exam results and face coverings in schools.
One Tory MP described the handling of many critical issues as a “megadisaster from one day to the next” and said many backbench Conservative are demanding reassurances from ministers as Parliament resumes on Tuesday afternoon.
A senior Conservative MP said backbenchers were “tired of the U-turns” and that his own ‘red wall’ MPs – seats based in former industrial towns in the North of England which are usually won by Labour – were growing impatient.
He said: “There’s that element of calamity – and frankly there are people from the ‘red wall’ seats who are getting jittery. But not only ‘red wall’ seats, but other people who haven’t got marginal seats like that.
“We’d like to be in a Government that has the impression of being competent – rather than lurching from one issue to another and then after a short time doing a U-turn.”
He added that MPs were left with “egg on their face” each time they defended Government policy to constituents and were then made to reverse their stance just days later.
Tory chairman of the Commons Defence Select Committee Tobias Ellwood said the proposal was “shortsighted in failing to appreciate how well-targeted aid can strengthen relationships and open up new markets – thus helping the Treasury”.
The Government is also under pressure to ensure the reopening of schools in England this week goes well and does not push up Covid-19 cases.
Conservative chairman of the Education Select Committee, Robert Halfon, told LBC that if there is another lockdown it is crucial “that we won’t have a situation once again for one reason or another… that kids are learning hardly anything at all.
“If kids are staying at home they’ve got to keep on learning whatever happens,” he added.
