Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign hit by bitter split as ‘old guard’ allies clash with new recruits
A BITTER split has opened up inside Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign over personalities and Cabinet jobs, The Sun can reveal.
Antagonism has developed between the frontrunner’s newer recruits, campaign chiefs James Wharton and Gavin Williamson, and Boris’s long standing allies from his previous leadership bid in 2016.
A feud has also erupted over Cabinet jobs, as a series of his senior MP supporters vie for top posts.
The Boris ‘old guard’ who have been with the former London mayor for years include ministers Jake Berry and Ben Wallace, as well as ex-minister Nigel Adams.
But campaign insiders say some of them now feel “frozen out” by slick younger advisers, as well as Mr Williamson and Mr Wharton – a Tory MP until he lost his seat in 2017.
One of the group told The Sun: “This could all go horribly wrong because Boris is listening to the wrong people.
“Gavin Williamson and the new hirings are all over him like a cheap suit and his true friends are being frozen out by them.
There is some pretty serious tension within the campaign between the old and new guard
Tory MP
“Look at the mess around the income tax cut for the well off, that’s a prime example, and God knows who’s advising him over the Carrie palaver.”
Another Tory MP on Boris’s team dubbed the campaign “a bit of a mess”. The MP added: “There is some pretty serious tension within the campaign between the old and new guard.
“And nobody is telling Liz Truss to shut up either. What Boris really needs is a strong chief of staff gripping it all, but that’s not happening yet.”
It has emerged that one of the most hotly fought spats is over who will get the Cabinet job of Northern Ireland Secretary.
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Ex-Defence Secretary Mr Williamson is alleged to covet it to make his return to government, after being fired by PM Theresa May over the leaking of secrets from a National Security Council meeting.
Mr Williamson is said to believe his strong links with the DUP’s 10 MPs – whose support for the Tory minority Government is vital – qualify him for it.
But the move is being firmly opposed by other allies who insist he cannot now be given any role that is security-sensitive.
Instead, they want Mr Johnson to give the Ulster job to another key team insider, his former PPS Conor Burns, who is a practising Roman Catholic.
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Another top role being hotly contested is Chancellor with ex-leadership contenders Sajid Javid and Matt Hancock both vying for it.
Boris is refusing to allocate any jobs in his Cabinet, but another prominent supporter, upcoming younger MP Johnny Mercer, is being looked at to become Tory party chairman in a bid to reinvigorate the ageing membership.
Sources close to Mr Williamson last night insisted he had no interest in the Northern Ireland job “or any job necessarily.
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