‘We’re heading for a national government without Corbyn or Johnson’, says grandson of Churchill

Nicholas Soames on Sky News. Photograph: Sky. - Credit: Archant

Sir Nicholas Soames has claimed that ‘chancer’ Boris Johnson will ‘bugger up’ being prime minister, and that we look likely to have a national government to solve Brexit.

The Tory MP, who is the grandson of Boris Johnson’s idol Winston Churchill, has claimed that Boris Johnson is a “chancer” with no qualities to be leader of the Tory party and the country.

But while he thinks that Johnson deserves his chance to see through the Brexit project, he warned his days could be numbered in Number 10.

Speaking to Sky News, he said: “There will be people who will not be able to stand on a Conservative manifesto of that type.

“We are moving in the medium term towards a national government. I think the moment is fast approaching towards a national government to sort this out.

Asked if it would be a government without Johnson or Corbyn, he said: “Maybe.”

“If there was a general election and there was an inconclusive result it may be that you could move for a national government.”

Soames also said he thought “not a lot” about the new government and Johnson’s appointments.

Separately he told the BBC Newsnight programme that the prime minister lacks the qualities to be a leader.

He said: “He has got great qualities of that there is no doubt. They’re just not the qualities that I want to see, personally, as prime minister of this country.”

“These are not times when we need someone who is a bit of a chancer, you know Boris is a chancer. He is a chancer.”

He continued: “I texted him last weekend, and I said to him when Churchill became prime minister, on the day he became prime minister, he went back to his flat, where he met my grandmother and his children, and they drank a bottle of champagne.

“And he proposed a toast, which I quoted to Boris, of ‘here’s to not buggering it up.’

“And I said to Boris I can’t possibly vote for you, I can’t vote for you, but I pray for all our sakes you don’t bugger it up. And that is my hope for Boris.

He added: “My fear is that he could bugger it up.”

Soames has also warned that parliament will not allow a no-deal Brexit to go through, and the “envitable” result is another general election.