Boris Johnson to face no confidence vote this evening
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will face a no confidence vote this evening.
Enough Tory MPs have requested a vote of confidence in Boris Johnson to trigger a contest, chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady announced first thing this morning.
The vote – by secret ballot – will take place at Westminster on Monday between 6pm and 8pm, with the count to take place immediately afterwards.
180 MPs will need to vote against Boris Johnson in order to oust him.
Clwyd South MP Simon Baynes was the first Welsh Conservative with a vore to back the Prime Minister, saying: “Today I will be supporting Boris Johnson – he has got the big decisions right on vaccines, supporting people through the Covid crisis, delivering on Brexit which the majority of people supported in the referendum and 2019 election and leading international support for Ukraine.”
Vale of Glamorgan MP Alun Cairns tweeted: “I will be backing the PM tonight. He has always got the big calls right- Furlough, giving us the lowest unemployment since 70’s; Vaccines, releasing us from Covid sooner than other nations; Strongest leadership against Russian aggression;& coordinated support through energy crisis.”
The short turn around raised some eyebrows during a week of tube strikes in London.
“Interesting to hold a vote of no confidence on a day with a tube strike,” Labour Rhondda MP Chris Bryant said. “Are MPs allowed proxies?”
Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee, said in a statement: “The threshold of 15% of the parliamentary party seeking a vote of confidence in the leader of the Conservative Party has been exceeded.
“In accordance with the rules, a ballot will be held between 1800 and 2000 today, Monday 6th June — details to be confirmed.
“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.”
‘Frenzied’
If Boris Johnson wins the confidence vote, he would be immune from the same kind of challenge to his leadership for a year.
A No 10 spokeswoman said: “Tonight is a chance to end months of speculation and allow the Government to draw a line and move on, delivering on the people’s priorities.
“The PM welcomes the opportunity to make his case to MPs and will remind them that when they’re united and focused on the issues that matter to voters there is no more formidable political force.”
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said that Boris Johnson has her “100% backing”.
“He has delivered on Covid recovery and supporting Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression,” she said.
“He has apologised for mistakes made. We must now focus on economic growth.”
Speaking on Radio 4, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the vote was an opportunity for the Tories “to put behind all this frenzied speculation we’ve had over the last few days and to get behind a programme of delivery”.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak added: “From the vaccine rollout to our response to Russian aggression, the PM has shown the strong leadership our country needs.
“I am backing him today and will continue to back him as we focus on growing the economy, tackling the cost of living and clearing the Covid backlogs.”
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It’s been a good weekend. Let’s keep the party going and ditch the anti-Welsh clown.
Some say keep the clown in charge until the next GE to get the party out. But this is a unionist election to benefit THE OTHER unionist party. In the meantime the clown could damage Cymru further.
Get him gone Tory MPs in Cymru! Do something for OUR country for once
Ohmygod! I’ve just realised that Dominic Raab is the deputy PM! 😮
To unseat Boris, the dis Union would have to be led by Captain Paddleboard for a few weeks. That’s frightening!
But perhaps an opportune moment to announce our secession from the old Empire?
What concerns me here is that the tories have done an excellent job of making this all about johnson, and portrayed themselves as somehow helplessly standing by as their party is held hostage by a rogue leader they can’t get rid of. When they do get shot of him, will the elements of the public who have been booing him like a panto villain quite happily return to voting tory? Let’s not forgot, the great british public didn’t decide that enough was enough when the tory government prioritised big business’ interests over people’s lives, and failed to act effectively or… Read more »
Oh I agree. But he still needs gone. He is the worst PM the DisUnion has ever had. Yes he is a handy scapegoat for the others. But here’s the thing. If they vote FOR him, they are tacitly approving everything he has has done. Every lie, every corruption, every theft, every incompetence, every slur, insult and indignity. Previously, they could claim that they were “fighting from the inside” against his chaotic nonsense. If they vote FOR him now they have the chance, that defence goes away. A vote FOR him is approval OF him and everything he has done.… Read more »
Thatcher won a confidence vote and then decided to resign. Tories in a mess due to internal Tory splits on Europe and Poll tax with poor opinion polls. Major had a fresh start and against all the prevailing wisdom beats Kinnock giving us another term of disastrous Tory misrule. Is this group hog day?
it’s our sort of ” beware what you wish for” moment. That said I see no redeeming features in the buffoon. I see no Tory alternatives that improve my expectations either !.