Chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady announced that 54 or more Tory MPs have requested a vote of confidence in the PM, triggering tonight’s leadership vote.
In his letter, the PM went on: “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. I’m afraid the only beneficiaries will be our opponents.
“I know that over recent months I’ve come under a great deal of fire, and I know that experience has been painful for the whole party. Some of that criticism has perhaps been fair, some less so.
“Where there have been valid points, I have listened and learned and made significant changes.”
The PM stressed they have a “golden chance” to put the whole saga behind them now.
“With your support, I believe that tonight we have a great prize within our grasp. We can put an end to the media’s favourite obsession. We can get on with the job without the noises off.”
While plenty of Westminster insiders predict Johnson will survive the vote, the fact it has been called is damaging for the prime minister.
Brady said in a statement: “The votes will be counted immediately afterwards. An announcement will be made at a time to be advised. Arrangements for the announcement will be released later today.”
In order to oust him, 180 MPs would have to vote against Johnson in the confidence vote.
However, the odds are in the PM’s favour with more than 140 MPs on the “payroll” alone including ministers and aides.
Cabinet ministers have been lining up to declare their support for the prime minister.
Foreign secretary Liz Truss said: “The prime minister has my 100 per cent backing in today’s vote and I strongly encourage colleagues to support him.
“He has delivered on covid recovery and supporting Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression. He has apologised for mistakes made. We must now focus on economic growth.”
Levelling up secretary Michael Gove added: “I’ll be voting for Boris this evening. The PM got the big decisions right on Brexit and Covid.
“We need to focus now on defending Ukraine, driving levelling-up and generating growth. We need to move past this moment and unite behind Boris to meet these challenges.”
Boris Johnson will face a vote of confidence from his fellow Tory MPs on Monday eveningBoris Johnson will be heading into a confidence vote this evening, meaning there is a possibility he could be ousted from Downing Street – and Twitter, as usual, has been quick to respond.Letters of no confidence in the prime minister from other Tory MPs reached the threshold of at least 54 on Monday morning.This means […]
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