UK Edition
Boris Johnson faces the biggest rebellion of his premiership over his plans for a second national lockdown, with a senior backbencher claiming that as many as 80 Tories are prepared to vote against it.
Conservative MPs are worried that once England is placed in a national lockdown the Prime Minister will find it difficult to lift those restrictions and return to the regional tiers system.
One MP said they feared that the plans would lead to "lockdown after lockdown after lockdown" while another denounced the plans as "madness" and evidence of "mass hysteria".
The Telegraph has been told by a senior Tory backbencher that between 40 and 80 Conservative MPs could vote against the lockdown plans when they are submitted for the approval of MPs on Wednesday.
However any rebellion is unlikely to succeed after Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told BBC television on Sunday that his MPs were likely to vote for the new measures, saying: "We will vote in favour of the restrictions."
On Sunday, Government whips were phoning backbench Conservative MPs urging them to vote for the new lockdown on Wednesday.
Putting the likely rebellion at between "40 or 50 or 80" Tory MPs, the senior Conservative said: "Frankly if we don't have a resignation from the Government over this it is really hard to understand what any of them stands for."
But fears of a sizeable rebellion that would dwarf previous reversals such as the 42 Tories who voted against the 10pm restaurant curfew prompted a sharp response from a Cabinet minister who told The Telegraph: "I have seen MPs on WhatsApp groups saying we must keep golf courses open. I mean for f**** sake - what kind of planet are they on?
"This is not a lockdown. These are new public health measures to keep the public safe and secure. If the public follows them we can get back to doing much more. We can get back to having our freedoms and going back to shopping at New Look and River Island."
The Conservative rebels are likely to make their feelings plain to Mr Johnson when the Prime Minister delivers a statement in the Commons on Monday afternoon.
Sir Charles Walker, a vice-chairman of the party's 1922 committee of backbench Conservative MPs who will not vote for the lockdown, said: "Careless talk of extending the lockdown beyond December 2 - three days before it comes into force - is very unsettling.
"We are now following a path that will lead to lockdown after lockdown after lockdown. Colleagues will want to be reassured that this is not the path that has been chosen but I am not sure that reassurance will be forthcoming from the PM or anyone else.
"I understand from reports that the Prime Minister was reluctant to enter into the second lockdown. I just hope that he is determined that there should not be a third."
Sir Graham Brady, the 1922 committee chairman who is also set to vote against the lockdown, is likely to use Monday's debate to call for Mr Johnson to publish Whitehall assessments about the impacts of the month-long lockdown on the economy and people's health and mental health.
Writing in Monday's Telegraph, Sir Graham said: "It is time that we refocused the lockdown debate to ensure that it is anchored in a normal framework of fundamental human rights.
"For me, the Government exists to serve the people, not to tell us what to do. It is axiomatic that the Government has no right to instruct law-abiding adult citizens as to how to conduct their intimate or family relationships.
"We must not return to a world where the right to take a walk in the park is subject to the whim of a Government minister: even if we put aside the nonsense of being told that we must lose weight, but mustn’t play sport; or that we will be paid to eat out but only until Whitehall decides that all restaurants must close."
Sir Desmond Swayne, a senior Tory MP, told Talk Radio on Sunday that he was varying "between despair and apoplexy in terms of my anger", adding: "It is a disaster - we will be paying for this for years. People with unemployment, their businesses wrecked, their lives ruined. And they die in greater numbers."
He added: "There is an absolute contradiction to be told there is a deadly virus pandemic wreaking havoc in the land - and the daily deaths are within five per cent of the long-term average which varies quite a lot anyway.
"Let's face it. When we have a bad flu year, it kills off 50,000 to 80,000 people. Do we lock down the economy? Do we run around like headless chickens? Do we wreck everything? It is just madness. It's mass hysteria."
Tory MP and former Cabinet minister Sir John Redwood added: "What is the exit strategy from national lock down?"
Tory MP Steve Baker - who has previously organised rebellions against the Government - said that he might vote against a lockdown because he is worried about the NHS impact saying "our civilisation is at risk".
He said: "No one should be under any illusions that our civilisation is at risk as a consequence of this virus. In those circumstances it may be that in the end Members of Parliament have to stand together and say we are willing to risk the NHS being over-run."
There were claims on Sunday night that Mr Johnson is likely to continue with a series of meetings with Conservative MPs in small groups to win round the rebels.
On Sunday night former Cabinet minister Esther McVey said she will vote against the new lockdown measures.
In a post on Instagram, she said: "I will be voting against the new national lockdown on Wednesday when it comes before the House of Commons.
"The 'lockdown cure' is causing more harm than Covid.
"The world cannot be put on hold, and the Government must stop pressing the pause and stop button for the whole nation on a whim, with all the disastrous effects this brings to our lives, livelihoods, health and relationships."