Johnson foes unite as two vie for confidence vote role
BORIS Johnson’s foes on the left and right of his party are understood to be uniting behind two key candidates in elections for the powerful backbench committee which could decide his fate.
Prominent Brexiteer Steve Baker and red-wall MP Aaron Bell, part of the 2019 intake, have emerged as the favoured candidates of MPS who hope to force out Mr Johnson.
Elections for the executive of the
1922 Committee, which represents backbenchtories, could help determine whether Mr Johnson survives as leader.
Current party rules state that a second confidence vote in Mr Johnson cannot be held until at least 12 months have passed since the first ballot on June 6. However, the 1922 Committee has the power to recommend that these rules be changed.
One senior figure in the Parliamentary
party said: “I think we are all going to line up, left and right of the party, behind Steve Baker and Aaron Bell.
“We want people who are strong enough to face down Boris, and those two are both strong enough.”
Mr Baker is a former chairman of the European Research Group, the influential backbench body which opposed former
Prime Ministertheresa May’s Brexit deal. He publicly urged Mr Johnson to resign in April, telling the Commons that “the gig’s up”.
Mr Bell was one of at least 54Tory MPS to submit a letter calling for a confidence vote in the PM, which Mr Johnson won with 211Tory MPS backing him and 148 against. After the ballot, Mr Bell said the PM should be given “the time and space to turn this round”.
Andrew Bridgen, another outspoken critic, has also said he will stand for election to the executive. However, while all 18 places on the executive are officially contested, only two existing members are standing down and the tradition within the party is that sitting members are re-elected. It means only two new members are likely to be returned, forcing MPS to vote tactically.
It is thought that a second confidence vote could take place if a report from the House of Commons Privileges Committee finds that Mr Johnson deliberately misled Parliament over No.10 lockdown gatherings. Even the Prime Minister’s staunchest supporters admit this would make it difficult for him to remain in office, although they insist the inquiry is unlikely to find that he purposefully lied.
Labour grandee Harriet Harman, a former deputy leader of her party, is chairing the inquiry, which last week issued a call for evidence.
She wants to hear from anyone with information about “Mr Johnson’s knowledge of the activities in 10 Downing Street and the Cabinet Office under Covid regulations” as well as
“any briefing given to, or inquiries made by, Mr Johnson relating to those events”.
The Committee will question witnesses in the autumn, suggesting it is unlikely to publish findings until early winter.
Senior judge Sir Ernest Ryder, former Lord Justice of Appeal and Senior President oftribunals, is an adviser.