Whips brace to protect Boris as Tory no-confidence letters near ‘magic number’
Save Big Dog… again: Whips brace to protect Boris as Tory no-confidence letters near ‘magic number’ of 54 after Partygate – but rebels fear they would LOSE a full vote and not be able to challenge again for a YEAR
Boris Johnson facing growing threat of a confidence vote as Tories break coverFull vote happens when 54 Tory MPs ask 1922 committee chair Graham BradySome rebels fear they would lose the vote and not be able to challenge for a year
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Boris Johnson is bracing to fight for his political survival again as Tory no-confidence letters near the ‘magic number’ of 54.
Speculation is reaching fever pitch at Westminster that the PM will face a full vote on his future in the wake of Partygate – potentially as soon as next week.
Some 27 MPs have now openly called for Mr Johnson to quit, while others have been heavily critical. However, not all will have sent letters – and a number might have done so privately.
Graham Brady, chair of the powerful 1922 committee, must call a vote of no confidence when 15 per cent of Conservative MPs ask for one – making the threshold 54.
But he has broad discretion on when to announce the move and is not expected to do so when Parliament is in recess. In the past he has given Downing Street some advance notice.
Rebels are also downbeat about their prospects of winning a contest even if one happens. More than half of the Tory benches would need to oppose Mr Johnson, and he still has significant support.
Under party rules, if the PM sees off the challenge he cannot face another confidence vote for a year.
Graham Brady (right), chair of the powerful 1922 committee, must call a vote of no confidence in Boris Johnson (left) when 15 per cent of Conservative MPs ask for one – making the threshold 54
A Savanta ComRes poll has found Labour extending its lead to 11 points over the past week
Mr Johnson is under new pressure after the Sue Gray report on Partygate, which included photos of his 56th birthday in the Cabinet Room
Theresa May won a confidence vote during her premiership, but was later forced to quit.
Arts minister Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay was sent out to broadcast studios to defend the government this morning.
He dodged on the prospect of a confidence vote, saying it is ‘pointless speculating about something unless or until it happens’.
The trickle of Tories urging Mr Johnson to consider his position threatened to turn into a stream yesterday, after Parliament went into recess and politicians took the temperature of their constituents.
Conservative Andrew Bridgen emailed his North West Leicestershire constituents yesterday to say he has resubmitted his letter of no confidence in Mr Johnson following ‘further revelations over the past week’, which saw the publication of the long-awaited Sue Gray partygate report.
He originally submitted a letter in January 2022 but withdrew it in March, arguing it was not appropriate to hold a confidence vote amid the fighting in Ukraine.
Earlier, former attorney general Jeremy Wright said events in Downing Street had caused ‘real and lasting damage’ to the Government’s authority and that he had concluded ‘with regret’ that Mr Johnson should go.
Carshalton and Wallington MP Elliot Colburn, who was elected in 2019, confirmed he had submitted a letter of no confidence in the PM some time ago.
And a fourth Tory MP, Nickie Aiken, suggested Mr Johnson should submit himself to a confidence vote to end the ‘speculation’ over his future.
Meanwhile, Tory chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, Tom Tugendhat, reportedly said he had made his position on the matter ‘clear to those who need to hear it’.
The backbench MP, who previously said he was open to running for the Tory leadership, was quoted as criticising Mr Johnson, but did not appear to call for him to resign.
Sir Bob Neill, chair of the Justice Select Committee, said it is in both the party’s and country’s interest for Boris Johnson ‘to move on’.
Explaining why he submitted a letter of no confidence on Friday, the MP for Bromley and Chislehurst told Times Radio: ‘I promised I’d wait until I’d seen the whole of the Sue Gray report and all the explanations that the Prime Minister gave.
‘I looked at them and I didn’t think it was credible that he could escape responsibility for what was not just a one-off incident, but a course of conduct, a repeated culture of breaking the rules in 10 Downing Street over a period of months, and on that basis and the feedback I picked up very strongly in my own constituency and the results that we saw there in the local elections where lots of traditional Conservative voters were saying to me ‘I’m sorry but we’ve lost faith in the PM, we can’t support you whilst he’s there’.
‘I took the view that it was in the party’s interest and actually the country’s interest for him to move on.’
Lord Parkinson told Sky News: ‘Well there’s an awful lot of speculation about the numbers of letters that go in and past experience shows, not just then but before, the only person that knows how many letters that have been sent in is the chairman of the 1922 Committee (Sir Graham Brady).
‘It’s pretty pointless to speculate about the numbers before then, it’s a distraction from the work of Government and in Government we’re getting on with making sure that we grow the economy to help with the cost of living.’
He added: ‘It’s pointless speculating about something unless or until it happens.’
Mr Johnson was the only member of the Cabinet in negative territory in the latest ConservativeHome grassroots poll
