Letters keep arriving for Boris
PM’S election boast infuriates already unhappy Tories
Boris Johnson has been hit with a fresh wave of noconfidence letters after saying he is already planning for a third term in Downing Street, Tory rebels said yesterday.
Rebel Tories revealed they had already been contacted by MPS submitting letters to the backbench 1922 committee in response to the Prime Minister’s saying he was “thinking actively” about fighting the next two general elections to take him past 2030.
One former Cabinet minister said: “Talking about a third term before even winning a second is taking voters for granted. That usually doesn’t end well.”
Another said: “It has already provoked more letters,” while a third former Cabinet minister previously loyal to Johnson, added: “For some colleagues, it has an air of unreality, which is annoying quite a few of them.”
It comes ahead of elections in the next fortnight for the 1922 committee of Tory backbenchers where two MPS — Steve Baker and Andrew Bridgen — have already indicated they will stand on a slate seeking to change the rules to allow another confidence vote in the Prime Minister.
Johnson is currently safe from a second confidence vote for a year after he won one narrowly this month. But this 12-month rule can be changed in a secret ballot by the 18-strong ruling executive of the 1922 committee.
Bridgen said the Prime Minister’s comments would spark a backlash: “It will have that effect. I’ve been approached by a number of my colleagues who only two weeks ago voted they had confidence in the PM but now have buyers’ remorse.”
It follows the by-election losses of Tiverton and Honiton and Wakefield, which precipitated the resignation of Conservative chairman Oliver Dowden and his warning that “somebody must take responsibility” and that the Government could not carry on with “business as usual”.
One member of the 1922 committee predicted there would be no vote of confidence before the July recess but it could consider a rule change before MPS return in September.
It is likely any change would see the threshold for triggering a second vote of confidence raised from 54 MPS (15 per cent of the parliamentary party) to up to 108, 30 per cent of the party, in order to prevent repeated challenges to the Prime Minister.
The count for letters calling for the Prime Minister to go is reset after each confidence vote but rebels are confident they could surpass 108 after garnering 148 in the first ballot against 211 for Johnson.
“The key point is going to come when the privileges committee determines if the Prime Minister deliberately misled the House of Commons. If it does, that is when the pressure will become unsustainable,” said the source.
Asked at the G7 summit in Germany yesterday if his ambitions for a third term were delusional, Johnson said: “What I’m saying is this is a Government that is getting on with delivering for the people of this country and we’ve got a huge amount to do.”
Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland Secretary, doubled down on the third term claims, saying; “Looking long-term is a really good thing.”
Rebel MPS claimed yesterday that allies of the Prime Minister had raised the spectre of a snap general election in October.