Dan Wootton: Boris Johnson must lead the UK out of the pandemic and be a given a chance to rediscover his lustre

Boris Johnson remains tonight on political death row awaiting the results of the Sue Gray PartyGate Inquiry.

And while the Remoaners, the Keir Starmer for Prime Minister brigade, and Tory troublemakers are baying for blood, I take a much more nuanced position.

Now is not the time for Boris to go. He must lead the UK out of the pandemic and be a given a chance to rediscover his lustre.

As you know, I backed Boris to become Prime Minister as I believed he was the only man who could deliver Brexit. That proved to be true.

But he has had a disastrous pandemic, where he gave into the media, scientific and political establishment, doing huge damage to the country in the process.

And sadly he’s also given in far too often to his wife Carrie, who has pushed Boris to reinvent the Tories into a big state, high tax party, slavishly supporting the Net Zero agenda and rolling back personal liberties.

For that, I have been furious and cheered on the brave Tory rebels led by Mark Harper and Steve Baker – and the even braver Cabinet defector Lord Frost – who have helped Boris to rediscover his backbone these past two months.

That’s before I even get to the boozy Number 10 parties while we were all locked in our homes at threat of arrest which frankly beggar belief and prove once and for all that inhumane and draconian lockdown policies should always have been guidance and not law.

But Boris has a chance to save himself.

There is no successor ready waiting in the wings.

None of the main contenders are anywhere near ready for a bruising leadership contest, let alone with a prepared agenda to run the country.

And up until recent polls, Boris has proven to be an electoral asset.

But if he has any chance of surviving as PM – and, I have to be honest, that is looking more difficult by the day – Boris must make some bold calls.

The first and most urgent priority is to scrap the National Insurance increase due for April, as a so-called health and social care levy.

It’s unthinkable to me that in the midst of an unprecedented cost of living crisis he is proposing a manifesto-busting tax hike, when record funds are already being pumped into the NHS.

The PM’s discomfort on the issue was obvious today as he was pressed on the matter in an interview.

It’s no surprise he’s feeling the pressure.

The Chancellor Rishi Sunak is trying to wash his hands of the unpopular £12 billion tax grab that will cost a worker on a £30,000 salary £255 a year.

Leading economic think tank the National Institute of Economic and Social Research says reversing the hike is “absolutely possible” and “makes a lot of sense”.

Former Tory Cabinet Minister Robert Jenrick wrote in the Daily Telegraph that postponing the rise would show that “the Government’s Conservative instincts remain”.

And the Daily Mail – campaigning for the 1.25 per cent hike to go – quoted an anonymous minister today saying the whole Cabinet would support such a move.

But that must just be the start if Boris is to survive.

He must also axe VAT and green levies on energy bills.

If Boris were to make such a dramatic statement on a key policy plank like low tax in the week of the Sue Gray report release, I believe many wavering Tories might agree the PM deserves one more go.

Just do it, Boris – this might be your last chance to save yourself.