Plotting Tories goad Boris that a confidence vote is ‘imminent’

4.1k

View
comments

Boris Johnson vowed to ‘draw a line’ under the Tory revolt today as he faces a titanic showdown within hours after the threshold for triggering a confidence vote was dramatically hit.

The PM sounded defiance after backbench chief Graham Brady confirmed this morning that at least 54 MPs have asked for a full ballot in the wake of Partygate, and one will be held between 6pm and 8pm.

With Mr Johnson addressing the parliamentary party before that and the results declared shortly afterwards, the development raises the possibility that Mr Johnson’s tenure could come to a crashing end less than three years after he won a stunning 80-strong Commons majority.

However, if 50 per cent of MPs back him in the secret vote in theory he is safe for a year – with some insurgents fearing they have moved too early ahead of key by-elections later this month.   

As whips gear up to threaten and cajole the Tory rank-and-file, Cabinet ministers immediately rallied round, with Rishi Sunak pledging his support, and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss saying he has her ‘100 per cent backing’. Deputy PM Dominic Raab and Michael Gove also stood by him.

Mr Johnson himself opted to ignore the challenge, instead posting on social media about weapons being sent to Ukraine. 

But there is speculation that some senior figures might be about to quit to join the insurrection, with trade minister Penny Mordaunt seen as on ‘resignation watch’. She tweeted today that she is in her Portsmouth constituency for a D-Day anniversary commemoration – but pointedly did not offer backing for the premier. 

One senior MP who has been generally loyal told MailOnline that anything more than 100 MPs voting against the PM would be ‘bad’, arguing that the 150-plus MPs on the payroll are already priced in. 

‘He will win, but how much he wins by is the most important thing. Fewer than 100 would be good, anything more very bad. The payroll vote has to back him, so people will look at whether he’s got a majority on the back benches,’ they said. 

The MP also grimly recalled that other leaders, such as Theresa May, have not survived for long even after winning a confidence vote. ‘These things never end well. The genie is out of the bottle,’ they said.  

Sir Graham, who waited for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations to end before notifying No10 last night and agreeing the timetable, said in a statement: ‘The threshold of 15 per cent of the parliamentary party seeking a vote of confidence in the leader of the Conservative Party has been exceeded.

‘In accordance with the rules, a ballot will be held between 1800 and 2000 today, Monday 6th June — details to be confirmed.

‘The votes will be counted immediately afterwards. An announcement will be made at a time to be advised. Arrangements for the announcement will be released later today.’

Sir Graham said he hoped there would be a ‘clear result’ – indicating that Mr Johnson would be welcome to address the 1922 committee this afternoon before the vote. 

A Downing Street spokesman made clear the PM is going to fight. ‘Tonight is a chance to end months of speculation and allow the government to draw a line and move on, delivering on the people’s priorities,’ the spokesman 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.’

The announcement came after former minister Jesse Norman – a long-term supporter of the PM – accused him of ‘grotesque’ behaviour over Partygate in an excoriating letter.

Rebels have been circulating a dossier branding Mr Johnson the ‘Conservative Corbyn’ and raising alarm about a looming electoral hammering from both Labour and the Lib Dems.

Keir Starmer gleefully seized on the news,   

However, Mr Johnson’s allies have been warning of a damaging civil war and even an early election. 

The rebels would need 180 votes to remove the Prime Minister – and he has an in-built advantage as around 170 Tory MPs are on the so-called ‘payroll vote’ because they have jobs as ministers, trade envoys, ministerial ‘bag carriers’ or party vice-chairmen.

It is a secret ballot though, so members of the government could oppose with premier without it becoming public.

One major problem for the rebels is the lack of an obvious replacement for Mr Johnson.

Rishi Sunak, previously regarded as the favourite, was also fined over Partygate and there is no other front runner.

Former Cabinet minister Jeremy Hunt has been touted as a contender, while Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is riding high with party grass roots. Tom Tugendhat is the only MP to have openly declared he wants to be PM. 

The reception for Mr Johnson at a Jubilee event at St Paul’s on Friday, which included booing and cheering, seems to have swayed some MPs into joining the revolt. 

In a round of interviews this morning, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said if Mr Johnson secures support from more than 50 per cent of MPs that will ‘draw a line’ under the revolt.

Sir Graham told journalists 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’.

In a letter to the PM posted on social media, Mr Norman, the MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire, said Mr Johnson had presided over ‘a culture of casual law-breaking’ in No 10 and that his claim to be vindicated by the Sue Gray report was ‘grotesque’. 

Some rebels are anxious that the timing could backfire as Mr Johnson is likely to win 50 per cent of the vote and survive. 

He would theoretically be immune from another challenge for a year, even though the party looks set for more punishment in two crucial by-elections later this month.

But Sir Graham acknowledged that those procedures could be changed.

‘Technically it’s possible for rules to be changed but the rule at present is there would be a period of grace,’ he told reporters.

Theresa May emerged victorious from a confidence vote, but was later forced to announce her resignation under threat that procedures would be redrawn to grant another ballot.  

A poll over the weekend found the Tories were trailing by 20 points in the Red Wall seat of Wakefield, which they seized as part of Mr Johnson’s landslide in 2019.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Javid said: ‘If he wins then that draws a line under this.’

Pressed on whether it will bring closure and unite the Conservative Party, Mr Javid said: ‘If he wins, then that’s a win – and by the way I do think he will win, but that’s obviously a decision for all my colleagues.

‘But at that point we draw a line under this because that’s, I think, more than anything, that is what the country wants to see.’

‘Is it right to have a vote? As I say, that’s a decision for my colleagues, I have full respect for them,’ he added.

‘We have this vote but, as a democratic party, you follow the rules and a win is a win and then we unite behind our leader and keep on delivering – that’s what this is about.’

Mr Javid said: ‘I’m supporting the Prime Minister and I hope more of my colleagues do tonight.

‘The Prime Minister will speak to my colleagues at the 1922 meeting tonight and then they will of course make up their own mind.

‘And, as I say that, let me be clear, I love my party. I think there’s a lot that we can be proud of. It’s a very proud democratic party.

‘No leader that I’ve known of my party has got 100% support from every single colleague but we make decisions through due process openly and transparently, and tonight is an opportunity to put all this behind us and get on with the job.’

As Cabinet circled the wagons around Mr Johnson, Mr Sunak tweeted: ‘From the vaccine rollout to our response to Russian aggression, the PM has shown the strong leadership our country needs.

‘I am backing him today and will continue to back him as we focus on growing the economy, tackling the cost of living and clearing the Covid backlogs.’

Communities Secretary Michael Gove posted: ‘I’ll be voting for Boris this evening. The PM got the big decisions right on Brexit and Covid.

‘We need to focus now on defending Ukraine, driving levelling-up and generating growth. We need to move past this moment and unite behind Boris to meet these challenges.’

Conservative Party chairman Oliver Dowden tweeted: ‘I will be voting for Boris Johnson in the confidence vote tonight.

‘He’s demonstrated real leadership in getting the big calls right as PM – Brexit, vaccines, reopening and Ukraine.

‘I hope after this vote we can come together and focus on the future. Let’s face the big challenges united and focused on delivery.’

Foreign Office minister James Cleverley tweeting: ‘I’m not going to go flaky on him now.’

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said the Prime Minister has his ‘full backing’, adding: ‘He got the key big decisions right… he has apologised for mistakes made, and we owe it to our constituents to focus on delivering to make lives better.’

Many Conservative backbenchers have also voiced their support for Mr Johnson, with Beaconsfield MP Joy Morrissey describing Monday’s vote as ‘a self-indulgent distraction the only effect of which will be to embolden a pitiful opposition’.

Others including Rachel Maclean, Mark Jenkinson, Stuart Anderson, Simon Clarke and Will Quince also said they will be backing the Prime Minister.

Nadhim Zahawi – seen as one of the contenders for next Tory leader – warned  MPs last night they were plotting a course for disaster by seeking to remove Mr Johnson.

The Education Secretary said the public ‘do not vote for divided teams’ – and unless the party unites it could go down to a defeat as catastrophic as Tony Blair‘s Labour landslide of 1997.

Mr Zahawi insisted the PM had got the ‘big calls right’ – and urged MPs to ‘get behind him’ to ensure the Conservatives win the next general election.

And Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said that, although he did not think the threshold of 54 letters would be reached, he was confident that the PM would win any subsequent vote.

Last week, divisions among the rebels emerged when Tobias Ellwood, an opponent of the PM, suggested the UK could rejoin the single market if Mr Johnson is replaced.

This prompted the Eurosceptic rebel Andrew Bridgen to say: ‘Let me be clear. If we get the opportunity to move on from the leadership of Boris Johnson, the next Prime Minister will have to be an active Brexiteer.’

Sir Keir Starmer said the public mood has changed with a ‘general sense that this man doesn’t really tell the truth’.

Speaking to LBC about the upcoming confidence vote in Boris Johnson by Tory MPs, Sir Keir said: ‘I think the mood has changed.

‘I think the public have made their mind up about this man. They don’t think he’s really telling the truth about many, many things – not just partygate – but just the general sense that this man doesn’t really tell the truth, (he) can’t be trusted.

The Labour leader also said: ‘We’ve got a prime minister trying to cling on to his job and most people would say ‘your job is to help me through the cost-of-living crisis and you’re not doing it because you’re distracted’.’

Sir Keir said that even if Mr Johnson wins, ‘I think history tells us that this is the beginning of the end.

‘If you look at the previous examples of no confidence votes, even when Conservative Prime Ministers survived those, he might survive it tonight, the damage is already done and usually they fall reasonably swiftly afterwards.’

Fury over rebels’ dossier of doom

Tory rebels came under fire last night after they spent the Jubilee weekend sharing a document that argues the only way to win the next election is to ‘remove Boris Johnson as Prime Minister’.

The paper, entitled Party Leadership, has been sent to a number of MPs who are considering submitting a letter of no confidence in the PM.

It says the only way to ‘end this misery’ is to remove Mr Johnson, who it claims is ‘no longer an electoral asset’.

The document adds that public anger over Partygate is not going to go away, with the prospect of anti-Tory tactical voting leading to a ‘landslide’ for Labour.

Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith criticised the rebels, saying: ‘It is sad that during the course of the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations, some MPs took it upon themselves to drag internecine Conservative politics into the mix.

‘It showed no respect for this great moment of celebration.’ It is not known who has circulated the briefing document, but key rebel leaders are understood to include former chief whip Mark Harper and Aaron Bell, an MP who was only elected in 2019.

While Mr Harper is said to be concentrating on converting older MPs to the anti-Johnson cause, Mr Bell is working on the more recent Tory intake.

Mr Harper is chairman of the Covid Recovery Group, which called for looser restrictions during the pandemic. His opposition to lockdown explains his anger at the revelations of a party culture in No 10 while there were curbs for the public.

Mr Bell was denounced as a ‘turncoat’ by one Cabinet minister at the weekend. The minister said he only won his Newcastle-under-Lyme seat – the first Tory to do so for more than 100 years – because of Mr Johnson’s popularity. Andrew Bridgen, another prominent rebel, revealed the existence of the briefing in a blog yesterday. He said: ‘Unfortunately it is hard for me to disagree with its content. It would be a huge mistake to ignore the mood of the nation.’

Last night Tory MP Brendan Clark-Smith said: ‘This is not a week for politicians to be talking about themselves.’

And fellow Tory MP Mark Jenkinson added: ‘I don’t know what drives a tiny minority of my colleagues to do the Labour Party’s bidding, but I do know that we have the Prime Minister and his Cabinet behind us in our mission to deliver on our 2019 promises. Every single seat of our historic majority was won with Boris Johnson at the helm.’

The document, which covers one side of A4, states: ‘Boris Johnson is no longer an electoral asset and, if left in post, will lead the party to a substantial defeat in 2024. He will lose Red Wall seats (with majorities under 10,000) to Labour, and Blue Wall seats (majorities up to 20,000) to the Liberal Democrats. At least 160 MPs are at risk.’ It adds: ‘The only way to end this misery, earn a hearing from the British public, and restore Conservative fortunes to a point where we can win the next general election, is to remove Boris Johnson.’