Tory MPs will participate in a confidence vote in the leadership of prime minister, Boris Johnson, on Monday evening.
Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the 1922 Committee, confirmed that the threshold of 54 no-confidence letters - equivalent to 15 per cent of the parliamentary party – had been crossed. This triggers a confidence vote in the PM’s leadership, which Sir Graham said would take place between 18:00 and 20:00 BST on Monday [June 6].
At least 180 Conservative MPs would need to vote no-confidence to force Johnson to go. Should he survive the no-confidence vote, he will be protected from facing another ballot of its kind for 12 months.
The confidence vote comes as the PM has come under ever-growing scrutiny over his handling of the Partygate scandal, with senior civil servant Sue Gray’s report heavily criticising Downing Street’s leadership for enabling law-breaking parties during the Covid lockdown to happen.
A Downing Street spokesperson said that Johnson was looking forward to making his case to his fellow Conservatives and enabling the government to “draw a line” under Partygate and “move on.”
The spokesperson said: “The PM welcomes the opportunity to make his case to MPs and will remind them that when they're united and focused on the issues that matter to voters. There is no more formidable political force.”
Meanwhile, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has urged Conservatives to “show some leadership” of their own and vote to remove the prime minister, who has “lost” the trust of the British public.
Sir Keir added that there was a “general sense” among Brits that the PM “doesn’t really tell the truth” about “many things” and it was in the national interest for Tories to “get rid of him” and not allow him to “cling on” to his position.
Image taken from Wikimedia Commons
