Challengers to UK PM Johnson should temper ambition – former leader

cde.news desk 6 February 2022, 13:40 · 1 min read

epa09534601 Iain Duncan Smith MP speaks at a press conference for the launch of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Magnitsky Sanctions in London, Britain, 20 October 2021. The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Magnitsky Sanctions is a cross-party group of MPs and Lords, who want to raise the profile of Magnitsky sanctions in Parliament and improve the impact of the legislation in the UK. EPA-EFE/VICKIE FLORES

LONDON, Feb 6 (Reuters) – A former leader of Britain’s ruling Conservative Party has told potential challengers to Prime Minister Boris Johnson to “temper” their ambition, saying the government needs to focus on supporting the country through a cost of living crisis.

Iain Duncan Smith told BBC TV following a week of speculation about the prime minister’s future that he was not “particularly in favour of plunging us now into a mess of votes of confidence, followed by leadership elections.”

He said that would be wrong “at a time when I think the British public has a right to (say): we elected you two years ago but we did not elect you to sit there whilst our incomes are not enough to pay for the cost of our living.”

(Reporting by Kate Holton; Editing by Toby Chopra)

Photo – former leader of Britain’s ruling Conservative Party Iain Duncan Smith. EPA-EFE/VICKIE FLORES