Anti-corruption tsar considers submitting no-confidence letter

BORIS JOHNSON’S anti-corruption tsar is considering submitting a no-confidence letter to force his removal, it has emerged as three other Tory MPS went public with their resignation calls.

John Penrose said he was “still thinking about” Mr Johnson’s political future after Sue Gray’s report into partygate and ahead of the privileges committee investigation into whether he deliberately misled Parliament. Mr Penrose’s comments came as Stephen Hammond, David Simmonds and John Baron all yesterday urged Mr Johnson to resign.

If 54 Conservative MPS submitted letters of no confidence to Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee, a confidence vote would be triggered.

Mr Penrose, MP for Weston-supermare, is the Prime Minister’s anticorruption champion.

The role involves cracking down on organised crime, procurement risks and international corruption.

Speaking to LBC’S Cross Question, Mr Penrose said: “The Sue Gray report gives us a lot of the facts but actually the difficulty with it is it didn’t show the Prime Minister as having attended a lot more events and having been fined for them than we already knew. But it doesn’t mean to say that all is forgiven, he’s got off scot-free, because it also says there’s some really serious problems with leadership, and he’s part of the leadership, he’s the leader of the leaders as it were.”

Pressed on whether he had submitted a letter, Mr Penrose replied: “Forgive me, I’m still thinking about that so I’m going to sleep on that. But it’s because it hasn’t put the issue to bed one way or another.

“There is a great deal of concern about whether or not he’s been telling the truth in Parliament, for example.”

Meanwhile, Mr Hammond, MP for Wimbledon, said he could not “defend the indefensible” and doubted whether Mr Johnson could regain public trust. He added: “All I can do as a backbencher is speak out and submit a letter.”

Mr Baron, MP for Basildon and Billericay, said Ms Gray’s report painted a “shameful pattern of misbehaviour”.

Mr Simmonds, MP for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner, said: “It is clear that while the Government and our policies enjoy the confidence of the public, the Prime Minister does not.”

It was not known whether Mr Baron or Mr Simmonds had submitted letters of no confidence.