Boris Johnson works to lessen the scale of Tory revolt against Covid Plan B

More than 70 Tories have expressed concerns about the Covid pass proposals – due to come into effect on Wednesday.

Boris Johnson was attempting to lessen the scale of the Tory rebellion (Paul Edwards/PA) (PA Wire)

Boris Johnson was desperately working to lessen the scale of the Tory rebellion against his new coronavirus restrictions as he faces the biggest revolt of his leadership.

After 11th-hour talks with the Prime Minister, one ministerial aide who was on resignation watch as he considered voting against Plan B said he would support the measures despite “big misgivings”.

Danny Kruger, a parliamentary private secretary to Cabinet member Michael Gove warned he would back the measures “thus far and no further” during Tuesday’s vote when dozens of Conservatives are expected to rebel.

Mr Johnson was expected to hold further talks with other would-be rebels, as he increased his warnings over the new strain, telling a virtual Cabinet meeting that a “huge spike of Omicron was coming”.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab argued the mandatory use of Covid passes for entry to nightclubs and large venues in England was not a “big step or a slippery slope”.

He rejected MPs’ concerns about so-called “vaccine passports” because people would also be able to show a negative lateral flow test to gain entry to venues.

More than 70 Tories have expressed concerns about the Covid pass proposals – due to come into effect on Wednesday – with claims they are illogical and illiberal.

Mr Raab told Sky News: “Even if you haven’t had the double jab or, in due course, the booster, you can still rely on the lateral flow test, which is why I think some of these concerns about this are overstated.”

On Times Radio, Mr Raab added: “If you want to go into a crowded venue, I think most people would think that voluntarily as a matter of their own safety, but also those around them, that that is a reasonable thing to do.

“I don’t think this is a big step or a slippery slope, but I do understand the concerns and that’s why we should have a proper debate.

“Ultimately, I think people should vote for these measures, they are a proportionate, targeted approach given what we don’t know and the precautionary approach we need to take, just temporarily, while we get to grips with Omicron.”

(PA Graphics) (PA Graphics)

Mr Kruger said he would support the Government after talks with Mr Johnson on Tuesday morning and having spoken to Health Secretary Sajid Javid, who is understood to have spoken to at least one other ministerial aide, the night before.

The MP warned he is “profoundly concerned” about “mass surveillance”, and “the segregation or punishment of people who decline medical interventions offered by the state”.

“I don’t believe that is where anyone in Government wants to go. I spoke to the Health Secretary last night and the Prime Minister this morning,” he wrote on his website.

Mr Kruger said both “stressed that these deliberately limited measures are intended to prevent another mandatory lockdown”, there will “never be compulsory vaccination for any citizen” nor will there be health passes not accepting negative lateral flow tests.

“On this basis – thus far and no further – I am happy to support the measures this evening,” he concluded.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman repeated the assertion that there would never be widespread compulsory vaccination.

Pressed if lateral flow tests would always be part of Covid health certificates, he said: “Certainly we’ve no plans to change our approach.”

Senior Tory Tobias Ellwood questioned why proof of vaccination status should be considered as a condition of entry to clubs and other mass gatherings.

He acknowledged that showing a negative test result “makes sense” but told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “If you can turn up with just a piece of paper, that documentation you’ve received that says you’ve had two jabs completed six months ago, that will not prevent Covid from entering a large venue.”

He added: “Leadership is about taking people to where perhaps they didn’t realise they needed to go, but they must understand the plan, and this is illogical at the moment.”

In a sign that unease about restrictions extends to the Cabinet, Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg used his ConservativeHome podcast to warn: “You have to learn to live with Covid in the end. We cannot switch the economy off and on every few months.”

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman responded that it was “not our intention” to shut down the economy but “we are responding to this variant which has some very concerning characteristics and we know spreads much, much faster than any variant we have seen before and that has the risk of overwhelming our NHS”.

(PA Graphics) (PA Graphics)

Tuesday’s vote will be a test of the Prime Minister’s authority at a time when he is battling claims of rule-breaking in Downing Street during the winter 2020 lockdown and facing the prospect of a tough by-election in North Shropshire following the Owen Paterson sleaze row.

The strong emotions on the Tory benches led one MP, Marcus Fysh, to compare the introduction of Covid passes to Hitler’s Nazi regime.

“We are not a ‘papers please’ society. This is not Nazi Germany,” the MP said on Monday.

The comments were condemned by Mr Raab, whose Jewish father fled Czechoslovakia in 1938.

The Deputy Prime Minister said: “I don’t like that kind of language and I don’t think it’s appropriate.”

He said he wants “to play the issue not the individuals”, but added: “Actually, I don’t think comparing what we are trying to achieve to an authoritarian or Nazi regime is quite right. I think a lot of people find that crass.”