Red Wall MP Aaron Bell has become the 13th Conservative parliamentarian publicly to call for Boris Johnson to stand down, as he submitted a letter of no confidence in the prime minister.
Mr Bell said that the prime minister’s position was “untenable” because of his handling of the Partygate scandal and the “breach of trust” represented by the series of lockdown-breaching events at 10 Downing Street.
His statement was released as Mr Johnson made a bid to shore up his parliamentary support by offering Tory backbenchers “a direct line into 10 Downing Street”.
In a letter to all Conservative MPs, the PM said he would re-establish backbench policy committees to give them a way of generating ideas and discussion to feed into government decisions.
And he said he will order cabinet ministers to engage “properly” with the backbench committees and take their views seriously.
MP Andrew Griffith, appointed on Thursday to replace Munira Mirza as director of policy at No 10 , will be tasked with ensuring the system is a success, said Johnson.
And he pledged: “I promised change and that is what we will now deliver together.”
Mr Bell was among the wave of Tories to seize traditionally Labour seats in the Midlands and North of England in Mr Johnson’s landslide victory in 2019.
He holds his Newcastle-under-Lyme seat with a relatively comfortable majority of 7,446, but the Staffordshire town had not previously been won by a Tory since 1859 and is certain to be a target for Labour at the next election.
A Brexiteer and supporter of Mr Johnson at the time of the 2019 leadership election, Mr Bell said he was “profoundly disappointed” by developments of recent months.
He voiced his frustration in the Commons debate on Partygate on Monday, recounting how he had observed social distancing regulations at his grandmother’s funeral and asking: “Does the Prime Minister think I’m a fool?”
In a statement confirming that he has submitted a no-confidence letter to the chair of the Tory backbench 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady, Mr Bell said that he “could not square” Mr Johnson’s comments in the Commons with previous statements to MPs that Covid regulations had been observed at No 10.
“I have also struggled to reconcile assurances given directly to me with the implications of Sue Gray’s interim findings,” he said.
“As someone who backed Brexit and backed Boris Johnson for the leadership in 2019, I am profoundly disappointed that it has come to this.
“The government that the prime minister has led delivered some huge successes, including the vaccine rollout and nearly £35m for Newcastle-under-Lyme to level up.
“However, the breach of trust that the events in No 10 Downing Street represent, and the manner in which they have been handled, makes his position untenable”.
Sir Graham must call a confidence vote if he receives 54 letters from MPs demanding one. If Mr Johnson survives the vote by securing the support of more than half of MPs, he cannot be challenged again for another year.
