Johnson to keep away from the Davos forum

PM concerned a visit to glitzy resort would send the wrong message

The United Kingdom's recently reelected prime minister intends to keep away from next month's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, over fears that the event's opulent setting and elitism will be unpopular with his new working-class supporters.

Johnson and his Conservative Party swept to victory in the UK's general election on Dec 12, thanks largely to many working-class voters switching their traditional allegiance, from the Labour Party to Johnson's pro-business, rightwing party.

Now, the Guardian says, Johnson is concerned about the message he would send by visiting the glitz and glamour of the expensive resort.

A Downing Street source told the paper he plans instead to "get on with delivering the priorities of the British people".

"The emphasis will be upon delivering Brexit by 31 January, and the NHS," the source said. "That is what we promised, not going to Davos."

In the past, prime ministers and senior politicians have frequently attended the event in the luxury Swiss ski resort, where they can network with the world's elite. But the paper said the party is trying to rebrand itself as one for "blue-collar" Conservatives.

An unnamed 'senior Tory figure' told the Financial Times it would be inappropriate for ministers to attend the gathering in the early weeks of a new government.

"Our focus is on delivering for the people, not champagne with billionaires," the source said.

Johnson attended Davos at least twice while mayor of London and told the BBC in 2013 it was "a great big constellation of egos involved in massive mutual orgies of adulation".

His decision is reminiscent of United States President Donald Trump choosing not to attend the gathering in 2017 because he feared it would look like a betrayal of his working-class supporters.

Johnson also reportedly told ministers as they gathered for their first parliamentary session of the new term this week that they should expect to work hard to create the government he wants.

"We must recognize people lent us their votes at this election," he said while pledging to build 40 new hospitals and hire 50,000 additional nurses. "It was a seismic election but we need to repay their trust and work 24 hours a day, flat out, to deliver."

He said they should think of themselves as a "people's government" and said voters have high expectations upon which the party must deliver.

Johnson's landslide on Dec 12 saw him secure an 80-seat majority — the largest winning margin since Margaret Thatcher's huge victory of 1987. It was made possible not only by working-class voters switching to the Conservative Party but by the party attracting support from younger voters. A study in The Times newspaper on Wednesday concludes many university students supported the Conservatives, dragging down the average age at which more people voted Conservative than voted Labour to 39 from 47 two years ago.

The World Economic Forum is scheduled to run between Jan 21 and 24.