Aside from structural changes, however, Mr Johnson is expected to make changes in personnel. His insistence that MPs must wait for the Metropolitan Police to conclude its investigations into “partygate” before they make their final judgment means that any sackings might have to wait until then, but Mr Reynolds, the author of the “bring your own booze” email invitation to a garden party in No 10, is among those expected to be replaced.
Dan Rosenfield, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, is also thought to be under threat, having come in for constant criticism from Tory backbenchers over the inept handling of a series of crises. Mr Johnson implied there were faults on behalf of himself and his senior staff over their response to allegations of illegal parties, saying: “I’m sorry for the things we simply didn’t get right and also sorry for the way this matter has been handled.”
Tory MPs on the right of the party have urged Mr Johnson to appoint Lord Frost, his former Brexit adviser, as Mr Rosenfield’s replacement, and on Sunday, Lord Frost said in a BBC interview that he would “never say never” to a return to Downing Street.
However, on Monday, Lord Frost effectively ruled himself out, saying that “policy change” was needed if the Government was going to succeed, and that he did not support the Prime Minister’s decision to press ahead with the National Insurance increase in April, meaning “obviously I could not return to help implement it”.
He also issued a warning to Mr Johnson, saying: “The PM’s chief of staff and Number 10 team must be fully committed to delivering the Government’s agenda. They can’t have agendas of their own or disagree with Government policy.”
There have been reports in recent months of a private agenda being pursued by the Prime Minister’s wife with the help of Downing Street aides with whom she is close friends.
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