Former Prime Minister Sir John Major @bbcr4today: "I have been a Conservative all my life. And if I am concerned at how the government is behaving, I suspect lots of other people are as well." bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politi…
Sir John Major: "Much of what they are doing is very un Conservative in its behaviour. There is a general whiff of 'we are the masters now' about their behaviour."
Sir John Major on how the government handled the Paterson affair: "shameful, wrong, and unworthy of this or indeed any government. It also had the effect of trashing the reputation of parliament."
Sir John Major:
"This government has done a number of things that have concerned me deeply: they have broken the law, the illegal prorogation of parliament. They have broken treaties, I have in mind the Northern Ireland Protocol. They have broken their word on many occasions."
"This government has done a number of things that have concerned me deeply: they have broken the law, the illegal prorogation of parliament. They have broken treaties, I have in mind the Northern Ireland Protocol. They have broken their word on many occasions."
"...the one that i find most odious is the cut in overseas aid which was a statutory requirement to make and was cut long before parliament gave permission for it."
Sir John Major: "Whenever they run up against difficulties with anybody, whether it is the Supreme Court, the Electoral Commission, the BBC, they react not with an understanding, not with trying to placate what has gone wrong, but actually in rather a hostile fashion."
If Owen Paterson got a peerage, Sir John Major says "I think it would be rather extraordinary if that happens."
Sir John Major describes the government as "perhaps politically corrupt" -- such as briefing parts of the press well in advance of any public announcement or parliament.
Triggering Article 16 re the Northern Ireland Protocol would be "colossally stupid," Sir John Major says. "It would be absurd."
"Who negotiated the retched Protocol? Lord Frost and the Prime Minister. They negotiated it. They signed it. Now they wish to break it."
"Who negotiated the retched Protocol? Lord Frost and the Prime Minister. They negotiated it. They signed it. Now they wish to break it."
"At the moment we are negotiating over the Protocol with all the subtlety of a brick."
Let's be clear: Sir John Major has long been a critic of Boris Johnson. But it still packs a punch when a former Conservative Prime Minister delivers that kind of critique of the current one.
A response from the govt to Sir John Major's interview (via @ionewells):
“As the Prime Minister has said, paid lobbying and paid advocacy by ministers and MPs is absolutely wrong. All elected officials must abide by the rules of conduct, as the public have a right to expect."
“As the Prime Minister has said, paid lobbying and paid advocacy by ministers and MPs is absolutely wrong. All elected officials must abide by the rules of conduct, as the public have a right to expect."
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