Boris Johnson can survive by cutting taxes and ditching ‘fluffy’ policies, says ally

Boris Johnson can survive the "partygate" scandal but must cut taxes and replace "fluffy" environmental policies to relaunch his premiership, one of his closest political allies has said.

Lord Marland of Odstock, a Conservative peer who has been a friend and informal adviser to Mr Johnson for over a decade, said he must refocus his agenda and "come out fighting".

Speaking to The Telegraph's Chopper's Politics podcast – listen to it using the audio player below – Lord Marland said the Prime Minister had the ability to survive the crisis and lead the Tories into the next election.

His intervention cames as Tory rebels switched their attention to the Conservative whipping operation and accused whips of "blackmail" over "partygate".

William Wragg MP, a vocal critic of Mr Johnson, suggested police could be called in to deal with allegations that MPs had been threatened with the removal of funds from their constituencies if they rebelled against the Prime Minister.

On Thursday night, sources in the whips' office said the claims were a "load of b-------" and demanded to see "a single shred of evidence" for them.

Mr Johnson's fate hangs in the balance ahead of the publication, as early as next week, of a report by the civil servant Sue Gray into claims of parties across Whitehall while the rest of England was adhering to Covid restrictions.

A vote of no confidence in Mr Johnson's leadership will be triggered if more than 54 Conservative MPs submit letters to the head of the 1922 committee calling for one.

Lord Marland was part of a team of friends and allies including Lord Udny-Lister and Sir Lynton Crosby who advised Mr Johnson both during his time as London Mayor and latterly in Parliament.

He said Mr Johnson's concerns over "partygate" were not "terminal" and suggested he could win over the Tory party.

‘He’s got to develop the Brexit dividend’

"He has got to show that we are a more competitive economy than America and the European Union, which means getting a real onslaught on regulation and a low tax regime," he said.

"He's got to develop the Brexit dividend, which to date he hasn't, and he's going to cut out all this fluffy stuff like animal welfare sentience Bills and all these things, which actually may have interest but it just takes up a huge amount of parliamentary time when we've really got to get on with the big crisis in social care, energy."

Lord Marland said "a lot depends on whether he wants to be" Prime Minister by the end of the year.

He said: "He's quite used to being in these scrapes, and so some of it is self-inflicted. But he's very good at getting out of them, and I just hope he's got the power and the will to do it. Otherwise, I think the country will be in quite a lot of trouble."

Lord Marland, a millionaire businessman who held ministerial posts in David Cameron's government from 2010 to 2014, said he did not speak to Mr Johnson that much but had been exchanging messages "quite regularly recently".

He added: "You've been through a shattering period and you must be thinking every day: 'I can't ... This is a nightmare.' I think we've just got to cut people a lot of slack and see where the thing goes."

Mr Johnson could turn things around if he focused on delivering voters' priorities for the next 18 months, including pledges to "level up" the country and tackle the cost of living crisis, Lord Marland said.

He added: "If he can deliver on that then of course he'll be re-elected because the country will say: 'Thank you very much. You've done a great job.'"

Asked whether Mr Johnson's wife Carrie, an animal welfare and environmental campaigner, was to blame for the "fluffy stuff", he said it was "a combination of people".

Plans to reward farmers who "rewild" land were "just going to destroy our food security. And in these times, food security is a very important part of the future", Lord Marland said.

He contrasted the Tories' current 10 point deficit in the polls with the fact that Labour under Tony Blair was 25 points behind the Conservatives, while the Cameron government was 20 points behind Labour, before they won general elections.

The peer said Mr Johnson "will come out fighting", adding: "You must never underestimate him. He's got great powers of recovery. And I think MPs should be careful what they wish for."

Also on Chopper's Politics, David Davis, a former Cabinet minister, said Mr Johnson had only a 30 per cent chance of remaining as Prime Minister by Christmas.

A no confidence vote could strengthen his grip on the party if he wins, Mr Davis said, adding: "It'd be better than where we are if he has a challenge and if he survives a challenge – at least that quarterises it."

Mr Davis said that since he told Mr Johnson to quit at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, "two of three dozen [MPs] have been in touch saying all sorts of nice things".

Listen to Chopper's Politics, The Telegraph's weekly political podcast, using the audio player at the top of this article or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcast app.