Battered PM survives vital vote of confidence
PRIME Minister Boris Johnson’s premiership last night lived to fight another day after surviving a crunch vote on his political future.
As the Western Daily Press went to print it was announced that Mr Johnson received the backing of 211 Conservative MPs with 148 saying they had lost confidence in his leadership.
Mr Johnson had earlier pleaded with Tory MPs to back his leadership rather than indulge in “pointless” internal warfare ahead of the vote.
Conservative MPs voted yesterday evening to decide whether they still have confidence in the Prime Minister following rows over lockdownbusting parties in No 10, splits over economic policy and divisions over his leadership style.
The Prime Minister wrote to Tory MPs and addressed them at a private meeting in Westminster two hours before voting began.
He reminded Conservatives that “under my leadership” the party had won its biggest electoral victory in 40 years.
He warned them that Tory splits risked the “utter disaster” of Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour entering Downing Street, propped up by the SNP.
“The only way we will let that happen is if we were so foolish as to descend into some pointless fratricidal debate about the future of our party,” he said, according to briefed extracts of his speech to the private meeting of Tory MPs.
In his separate letter to Conservatives, Mr Johnson said: “Tonight we have the chance to end weeks of media speculation and take this country forward, immediately, as one united party.”
It is an opportunity to “draw a line” under the issue, he added.
“I do not believe our voters will lightly forgive us if - just when they need us most to be focusing on them - we appear once again to be focusing on Westminster politics.”
Emerging from the afternoon Tory meeting, Foreign Office committee chair James Cleverly said Mr Johnson’s address had been “light on jokes”, with the Prime Minister in “serious mode”.
He said he expected the Prime Minister to win: “No one can absolutely tell for certain, but the tone, the mood of that room gives me a feeling that actually the vast bulk of the parliamentary party wants us to move on from this row, wants us to focus on what we should be focusing on which is serving the people who elect us and also the position that we play in the world at an incredibly turbulent time.”
The alternative was a “protracted period of introspection”, he warned.
The Prime Minister was informed early on Sunday afternoon that he would face the vote after more than 15% of the party’s MPs - 54 parliamentarians - had submitted formal letters, emails or messages saying they had lost confidence in him.
Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, confirmed he had received the 54 letters from Conservative MPs needed to trigger the vote on Sunday with a “clear indication” that there would be more to come following the conclusion of the Platinum Jubilee festivities.
The secret ballot took place at Westminster yesterday between 6pm and 8pm, with the result announced at 9pm.
A steady stream of Tory MPs called publicly for the Prime Minister to stand down in the wake of Sue Gray’s report into breaches of the Covid regulations in No 10 and Whitehall.
But Tory concerns go far wider, covering the Prime Minister’s policies which have seen the tax burden reach the highest in 70 years and concerns about his approach to ethics and cultural issues.
In order to oust the Prime Minister, however, the rebels will need 180 MPs, and allies of Mr Johnson made clear he is determined to fight to stay on.
A succession of Cabinet ministers appeared on TV to voice support for the Prime Minister while Government colleagues and backbenchers also went on social media as part of a co-ordinated operation to bolster Mr Johnson’s position.
Brexit opportunities minister and West MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said victory by a single vote would secure Mr Johnson’s job.
“One is enough, it’s no good saying that the rules of the party say something and then behind it unofficially there is some other rule that nobody knows and is invented for the purpose,” he told Sky News.
But in reality a major revolt would leave him damaged, perhaps fatally so, particularly with two by-elections on June 23 which could see further blows delivered to his leadership.
Ahead of the vote Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said he would be voting against Mr Johnson, having heard “loud and clear the anger at the breaking of Covid rules” and “even more so at the statements to Parliament from the Prime Minister on this topic”.
Former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt, who stood against Mr Johnson for the leadership in 2019, warned that the Tories would lose the next General Election if the Prime Minister is allowed to remain in post.
“Having been trusted with power, Conservative MPs know in our hearts we are not giving the British people the leadership they deserve,” he said.
He added: “Today’s decision is change or lose. I will be voting for change.”
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said “the PM has shown the strong leadership our country needs”.