After Pork Pie Plot, it’s Cream Tea Coup
More Tories call for Boris to quit as No10 fears attacks are co-ordinated
‘Egos who want to make it all about them’
DOWNING Street feared last night that a co-ordinated plot was trying to bring down Boris Johnson after a string of Tory MPs went public in calling for him to resign.
In what was dubbed ‘the Cream Tea Coup’, two Devon MPs formed part of a trio who demanded that the Prime Minister quit over Partygate.
Sir Gary Streeter, Anthony Mangnall and Tobias Ellwood all revealed that they were submitting letters of no confidence in Mr Johnson’s leadership.
The number of MPs who have publicly called for the PM to step down now stands at 14, including seven who say they have put in letters to demand a ballot on whether he should be ousted.
Cabinet minister Nadine Dorries last dismissed the rebels as a ‘handful of egos’ who ‘want to make it all about them’. The Culture Secretary said: ‘The defining mission of the PM and this government is to level up the whole of the UK. On the very day we are setting out steps to make this happen, a handful of egos want to make it all about them. It’s selfish, doing Labour’s work and it’s really not helping their constituents.’
Downing Street had hoped that the publication of Sue Gray’s updated Partygate findings on Monday would allow the PM to move on from the row as the Government battles crises over energy bills, the cost of living and Ukraine.
However, on Tuesday, Tory MP Peter Aldous announced he had submitted a letter calling for the PM to resign, while Sir Charles Walker, the vice-chairman of the Tory backbench 1922 Committee, said there was so much anger over what happened that Mr Johnson should consider whether the country could heal better if he left No 10.
They were followed by the three MPs yesterday in what threatens to become a drip-drip of opposition to the PM.
Mr Ellwood, who has himself been accused of attending a lockdown-busting party, was the first to break cover yesterday. The former minister, who chairs the Commons defence committee, hit out at the ‘horrible’ situation of having to ‘continuously... defend’ Mr Johnson to the British public.
Appearing on Sky News just before 9am, Mr Ellwood suggested Mr Johnson should ‘take a grip’ of the situation and call a vote of confidence in himself.
Mr Mangnall, who represents Totnes, joined the revolt shortly before 3pm. The 2019-intake MP tweeted: ‘Standards in public life matter. At this time I can no longer support the PM. His actions and mistruths are overshadowing the extraordinary work of so many excellent ministers and colleagues.’
Then at 5pm on the dot, longstanding MP Sir Gary revealed he had also submitted a letter of no confidence in Mr Johnson.
‘I cannot reconcile the pain and sacrifice of the vast majority of the British public during lockdown with the attitude and activities of those working in Downing Street,’ he said.
Senior party sources last night dubbed the effort to remove Mr Johnson as the ‘Cream Tea Coup’ because Sir Gary and Mr Mangnall are both Devon MPs.
A Downing Street insider conceded they feared the push to oust Mr Johnson was being coordinated, but they played down the significance of the three letters being submitted yesterday, saying none of the trio was a ‘big surprise’. A confidence vote will be triggered if Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee, receives 54 letters, which is 15 per cent of the parliamentary party.
The Daily Mail revealed in December 2020 that Mr Ellwood attended a Christmas dinner for 27 guests at a London club.
The Iraq Britain Business Council described the event at the Cavalry and Guards Club in Piccadilly on its website as its ‘Christmas Party’. But Mr Ellwood, who gave a speech, insisted it was a ‘business meeting’ that was allowed under the tier two restrictions that applied at the time.
An attempt by MPs in the 2019 intake to unseat the PM last month was nicknamed the Pork Pie Plot because of the involve
ment of Alicia Kearns, who represents Melton Mowbray.
The alleged coup came as a poll found that almost two thirds of voters (61 per cent) think Mr Johnson should resign over Partygate.
Some 78 per cent want Miss Gray’s report on the scandal to be published in full, according to surveys carried out by J L Partners. Four in five Britons
believe the PM ‘broke the coronavirus regulations with parties in Downing Street’.
More than half (55 per cent) of the 2,000 respondents said the investigation into the Downing Street parties should continue, while 36 per cent believed the country must now move on from the allegations.