Duncan quits in attempt to force confidence vote in would-be PM
SIR Alan Duncan quit as a foreign minister yesterday as he hatched a bizarre plot to persuade the Queen to reject Boris Johnson as prime minister.
The long-standing Tory MP resigned in protest at a potential Johnson-led government and lobbied John Bercow, the Speaker of the House, to hold an emergency Commons debate on the new leader in a move that could have dealt Theresa May’s successor a fatal blow before he formally took office.
After hitting out at the “haphazard and ramshackle” would-be prime minister, his ex-boss at the Foreign Office, Sir Alan wrote to Mr Bercow suggesting that Mrs May might be minded to advise the Queen against appointing Mr Johnson as her replacement.
In an explanatory note with his request for an effective confidence vote in the next prime minister, he wrote: “This is the first time in our parliamentary history that the prime minister of a minority government has changed in midterm.
“Thus the normal assumption that the succession is automatic cannot be said to apply, and his ability to command a majority in the House should arguably be tested before the Prime Minister can safely advise the Queen who should succeed her.”
Arguing that there was “doubt” over the level of parliamentary support for Mr Johnson, he added: “We must maintain seamless continuity of government and not draw the Queen into political controversy. A questionable succession would risk offending both.”
The move was rejected by Mr Bercow as astonished Conservative colleagues pointed out that Labour was not even planning to table a motion of no confidence this week.
Clerks are understood to have advised the Speaker that Sir Alan’s plan would have put the Queen in an “invidious position”, pointing out it was for the Opposition, not individuals, to table such motions.
In an interview with the BBC, Sir Alan, who was minister for Europe and the Americas, admitted he had quit to push for the vote, which would have given MPS the chance to consider “the merits of the newly chosen leader of the Conservative Party” and, crucially, whether the Commons “supports his wish to form a government”.
Insisting that he was trying to avoid a much worse “constitutional crisis” in the autumn when Labour is expected to table a no-confidence motion, he denied being motivated by “personal animosity” despite being highly critical of Mr Johnson in the past, once describing him as a “circus act”.
“I have very grave concerns that he flies by the seat of his pants and it’s all a bit haphazard and ramshackle,” he said.
‘We must maintain seamless continuity of government and not draw the Queen into political controversy’
“A fundamental principle of our democracy is that the Prime Minister is the person who can command a majority in the House of Commons, and that is untested and in doubt.
“I thought, in order to avoid a constitutional crisis, we should test that on Tuesday before he goes to the Palace on the Wednesday.
“The Speaker has denied me and the House that opportunity.”
In his resignation letter to the Prime Minister, Sir Alan, who backed Remain in the referendum, said that Brexit had cast a “dark cloud” over the country.
Mrs May, thanked him for his “devoted and energetic service”.
In a thinly veiled criticism of Mr Johnson, he said he said he had “served with two very different Foreign Secretaries” in Mr Johnson and Jeremy Hunt. Mr Hunt praised him for his “fantastic service”.
Greg Hands, a former minister, said pre-emptive ministerial resignations “in case your own democratically elected party leader is not to your liking are absurd”.