West MPs pile on the pressure before vital vote for PM
THREE senior West Tory backbenchers rocked Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday by saying that he no longer had their support.
Hereford and South Herefordshire MP Jesse Norman published an explosive letter expressing his discontent with Mr Johnson; Westonsuper-Mare MP John Penrose resigned as the Government’s anticorruption tsar; and Bridgwater and West Somerset MP Ian LiddellGrainger revealed he would be voting against the Prime Minister last night.
And Forest of Dean MP Mark Harper, who had previously called for the Prime Minister’s resignation in parliament, reiterated that opinion during broadcast interviews.
At the General Election in 2019 every seat in the rural West Country returned a Tory MP, with only voters in the cities of Bath, Bristol, Exeter and Plymouth electing opposition MPs.
A succession of scandals at 10 Downing Street have, though, seen the polls indicate a number of traditional Conservative voters have lost faith with Mr Johnson.
But the Prime Minister did receive the backing of a number of West MPs, including ministers such as Jacob Rees-Mogg and Michelle Donelan.
The Prime Minister was informed on Sunday that he will face a confidence vote as a result of Tory discontent over the lockdown-busting parties in No 10 and the direction of his leadership.
Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, yesterday morning confirmed he had received the 54 letters from Conservative MPs needed to trigger the vote, with the result due at 9pm last night.
Shortly afterwards former minister Mr Norman shared his damning letter.
The former financial secretary to the Treasury described the Prime Minister’s response to the Sue Gray report as “grotesque” in the letter.
Mr Norman, who was two years above the Prime Minister at Eton, had been a long-term supporter of Mr Johnson and previously described him as a “huge talent and an old friend”.
But he cited the “culture of casual law-breaking at 10 Downing Street”, “deeply questionable” policies including the “ugly” Rwanda plan and “breach of the Northern Irish Protocol” as reasons for withdrawing his support.
He also criticised the privatisation of Channel 4 as “an unnecessary and provocative attempt to address a political non-issue during a time of crisis” and accused Mr Johnson’s Government of lacking “a sense of mission”.
Mr Norman, who also worked as energy minister in 2016 and 2017, described the Government’s energy policies as “empty rhetoric” and plans to build a nuclear power station in a year as impractical.
He told the Prime Minister in his letter: “Recent events have served to clarify the position this country is in under your leadership, beyond any doubt, and I am afraid I can see no circumstances in which I could serve in a Government led by you.”
The letter concludes by saying: “For you to prolong this charade by remaining in office not only insults the electorate and the tens of thousands of people who support, volunteer, represent and campaign for our party; it makes a decisive change of government at the next election much more likely.
“That is potentially catastrophic for this country.
“For these reasons, and with great sadness, I am withdrawing my support for you as leader, and I have notified this to the Chairman of the 1922 Committee.”
Mr Norman’s decision to vote against Mr Johnson was thought to be particularly damaging given his wife Kate Bingham masterminded the Vaccine Taskforce.
Mr Penrose, whose own wife Dido Harding also played a prominent role in the coronavirus pandemic as the head of the controversial test and trace programme, resigned from his post and called on the Prime Minister to do the same, accusing him of breaking the Ministerial Code.
He said Mr Johnson had failed to address Sue Gray’s report’s “very serious criticisms” of the leadership at 10 Downing Street.
He cited the Prime Minister’s letter to independent standards adviser Lord Geidt, published on May 31 addressing both the annual report on the Ministerial Code and Ms Gray’s report on partygate.
Noting that leadership was one of the “Nolan Principles” that are supposed to govern conduct in public life, Mr Penrose wrote: “The only fair conclusion to draw from the Sue Gray Report is that you have breached a fundamental principle of the Ministerial Code - a clear resigning matter.
“But your letter to your independent adviser on the Ministerial Code ignores this absolutely central, nonnegotiable issue completely. And, if it had addressed it, it is hard to see how it could have reached any other conclusion than that you had broken the code.”
Sharing his letter of resignation on social media, Mr Penrose added that it was “pretty clear” the Prime Minister had broken the code.
Mr Penrose, who has served as the Government’s anti-corruption champion since December 2017, said he was not unhappy with the action the Government was taking to fight corruption and was “grateful” to the Prime Minister for “getting Brexit done”, winning the 2019 election and “getting the country out of Covid lockdown”.
But he added that these factors could not “excuse or justify a fundamental breach of the Ministerial Code”.
Mr Liddell-Grainger, who is in Sierra Leone co-chairing the Africa Regional Conference, said he would be voting against the Prime Minister by proxy.
He said: “I have already made my view clear both to the Prime Minister himself and to the chairman of the 1922 Committee, a member of which will be submitting my vote.
“I believe he should step down for the good of the country. That is the only way to resolve this intolerable situation which is damaging both the Government’s ability to govern and the UK’s reputation on the world stage.
“And even if the Prime Minister survives tonight my views on his position and the step I believe he should take will remain unchanged.”
Brexit opportunities minister Jacob Rees-Mogg has sought to downplay the significance of a confidence vote in Boris Johnson in an interview with Sky News, calling it the “routine of politics”.
Referring to the threshold of Tory MPs who have submitted a letter of no confidence, the North East Somerset MP said: “I don’t think getting to the 15% bar is particularly damaging, or indeed particularly surprising. I think it’s a relatively low bar and fairly easy to get to.”
After suggestions he had been rolled out before the cameras to voice his support for the PM, he said: “Nobody has forced me to come out to support an exceptional, good, forward-looking Prime Minister.”
Filton and Bradley Stoke MP Jack Lopresti said he would be backing Boris Johnson too.
“I am supporting the PM today because he has delivered Brexit, the fastest vaccine roll-out in Europe, he is leading the international effort against Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and he received an overwhelming mandate from the British people at the last General Election,” he said.
I can see no circumstances in which I could serve in a Government led by you JESSE NORMAN
I believe he should step down for the good of the country IAN LIDDELL-GRAINGER
I don’t think getting to the 15% bar is particularly damaging JACOB REES-MOGG