Brexiteer Bridgen fifth Tory calling for PM to go

Do the right thing, MP and Brexiteer says, after submitting a letter of no confidence in Mr Johnson

A CONSERVATIVE MP and prominent Brexiteer has put in a letter of no confidence in Boris Johnson, as he condemns a “moral vacuum at the heart of government”.

Andrew Bridgen, who backed Mr Johnson to be leader in June 2019, said in an interview on today’s Chopper’s Politics podcast that he hoped Mr Johnson would be out of No10 within “two or three months”.

Mr Bridgen becomes the fifth Conservative MP publicly to call for Mr

Johnson to quit this week, after Douglas Ross, Sir Roger Gale, William Wragg and Caroline Nokes. If more than 15 per cent of the party’s MPS – 54 Conservatives – submit letters to Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee of Tory MPS, there has to be a vote on his leadership.

The Daily Telegraph understands that as many as 30 letters of no confidence in Mr Johnson have now been submitted by Tory MPS dismayed by the chaotic running of 10 Downing Street.

Writing in today’s Telegraph, Mr Bridgen warns of “a moral vacuum at the heart of our government” in the wake of the “partygate” revelations, adding: “Sadly, the Prime Minister’s position has become untenable. Leadership is not just about the job title, or even making big decisions, it is equally about having a moral compass. Of knowing not just right from left but right from wrong.”

Mr Bridgen, 57, who was elected as MP for North West Leicestershire in 2010, was moved to act as more and more revelations emerged about parties at 10 Downing Street as Britons were being threatened with prosecutions and fines if they broke the rules.

He said: “As more revelations have been published and I fear more are yet to come out, it is clear that not only were rules broken in Downing Street, but that the initial response was to stretch the truth about them being broken too.

“Claims by the Prime Minister that he did not know that he was attending a party seem at best misguided and at worst cynical. So today I’m calling on the Prime Minister to stand down, there is time yet to do the right thing.”

‘Claims by the Prime Minister that he did not know that he was attending a party seem at best misguided and at worst cynical’