No10 thwarts Labour bid to remove Johnson

LABOUR was accused of ‘playing politics’ after the party unconventionally tabled a motion for a vote of no confidence in both the Government and the Prime Minister.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer yesterday sought to use the motion to prevent Boris Johnson from staying in No10 until September 5, when a new Tory leader will be announced, and eject him immediately.

But Downing Street refused to allow time for the vote, saying that it would not be a ‘valuable use of parliamentary time’.

No 10 said that there was no need to entertain the motion since the Prime Minister had already announced he will step down. A Downing Street spokesman added: ‘They have chosen to play politics by tabling a vote of no confidence in the Government and the Prime Minister.

‘Should Labour amend their motion appropriately, they can have the next business day for it to be debated.’

Sir Keir had said it would be ‘intolerable for the country’ if Mr Johnson were to stay on till September.

He added: ‘He is leaving because his own party has concluded that he can’t be trusted. They can’t now let him cling on for weeks and weeks and weeks...

‘We’re challenging them to put their constituents first, and put the country first.’

Labour’s motion had proposed ‘that this House has no confidence in Her Majesty’s Government while the Rt Hon Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip remains Prime Minister.’

But conventionally these sorts of motions in the Commons would only propose a vote of no confidence in the Government itself, rather than both the Government and the Prime Minister.

Nikki da Costa, a former director of legislative affairs in Downing Street, said that the wording meant it was ‘not a traditional confidence vote’ and therefore ‘doesn’t pass the test’.

But Labour pointed to what it said was a similar motion tabled in August 1965, which deplored ‘the Prime Minister’s conduct of the nation’s affairs’.

A party spokesman claimed the Government was running scared by refusing to allow time to debate the motion.

And a Labour source hit back at No 10’s justification last night, saying: ‘Boris Johnson hasn’t resigned, he is still in office – and you can’t separate the Prime Minister from the Government.’