PM bans ministers from Davos in nod to working-class voters

Boris Johnson has banned ministers from attending the World Economic Forum in Davos next month as he seeks to consolidate the party’s position among working-class voters.

The prime minister, who will also stay away from the annual gathering of national and business leaders, wants to “get on with delivering the priorities of the British people”, a Downing Street source said.

“The emphasis will be upon delivering [the exit deal for] Brexit by 31 January and the NHS. That is what we we promised, not going to Davos,” a source said.

As MPs gathered for their first parliamentary sitting following last week’s Tory landslide, Johnson told his first cabinet meeting that ministers would be expected to work “24 hours a day” to create a “people’s government”.

At the gathering around the cabinet table in Downing Street, Johnson told ministers they must work to repay voters who gave them their support at the ballot box. He said: “We must recognise people lent us their votes at this election. It was a seismic election but we need to repay their trust. And work 24 hours a day, flat out, to deliver.