Boris Johnson to face no confidence vote from Tory MPs today

Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, confirmed in a statement that he has now received the 54 letters from Conservative MPs needed to trigger a vote.

The vote – by secret ballot – will take place at Westminster on Monday between 6pm and 8pm, with the count to take place immediately afterwards.

It comes after a steady stream of Tory MPs called publicly for the Prime Minister to stand down in the wake of Sue Gray’s report into breaches of the Covid regulations in No 10 and Whitehall.

In order to oust the Prime Minister however the rebels will need 180 MPs, and allies of Mr Johnson made clear he was determined to fight to stay on.

Sir Graham told reporters in Westminster that Boris Johnson was informed last night that the threshold to trigger a vote had been reached.

He said some colleagues had post-dated their letters until after the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

He told reporters in Westminster: “I notified the Prime Minister yesterday that the threshold had been reached.

“We agreed the timetable for the confidence vote to take place and he shared my view – which is also in line with the rules that we have in place – that that vote should happen as soon as could reasonably take place and that would be today.”

He refused to confirm how many letters had been received or when the threshold had been passed but said “it is slightly complicated because some colleagues had asked specifically that it should not be until the end of the Jubilee celebrations”.

Speaking shortly before Sir Graham made his announcement, Health Secretary Sajid Javid told Sky News: “If there is (a vote) the Prime Minister will stand and fight his corner with a very, very strong case.”

Conservative MP Michael Fabricant, who has thrown his support behind the Prime Minister, said he thinks Boris Johnson will win a vote no of confidence.

Asked on Times Radio if the PM will win, the Lichfield MP said: “I think he is going to win.

“I think that something like two-thirds of the party will vote to support him and I really do wonder why it’s happening at this time.

“I mean, if I was planning a palace coup, I wouldn’t be doing it at this time. I think it’s not been well planned.”

Mr Fabricant went on to compare the situation to the confidence vote which Theresa May won, saying: “I’ve got a feeling that’s what’s going to happen this time too – and so it should.”

As well as facing trouble on his backbenches, Mr Johnson also faced public backlash during the Platinum Jubilee bank holiday weekend, including being booed on Friday by some sections of a crowd during his arrival at a thanksgiving service for the Queen at St Paul’s Cathedral.

Tory fears about their leader’s standing among the public were also likely to have been further fuelled by polling carried out ahead of the Wakefield by-election by JL Partners.

The survey found the Conservatives could lose the key battleground seat, which was one of tens of constituencies Mr Johnson took from Labour in the so-called Red Wall during his 2019 landslide general election win, by as much as 20 points to Sir Keir Starmer’s party this month.

With the Tiverton and Honiton by-election due to be held on the same day, June 23, as Wakefield, Mr Johnson faces the prospect of losing seats to Labour in the north of England and the Liberal Democrats in the South West.

The by-elections will be the first electoral test for the governing party since senior civil servant Sue Gray’s investigation into coronavirus rule-breaching events in No 10 and Whitehall was published last month.

Ms Gray laid bare the details of raucous parties while also finding that the Prime Minister had attended a number of leaving dos for aides, giving speeches and joining in the drinking of alcohol, despite at the same time telling the public not to see sick and dying loved ones in a bid to stop the spread of the virus.

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