UK Politics

Boris Johnson will face a no-confidence vote in his leadership on Monday evening and needs to secure over 50 per cent of his MPs’ support to win. However, even if he does win, he still faces an extremely uncertain future. Whether he can reassert himself as the right man to lead the Conservatives will depend on how successfully he wins the vote this evening. Here are the key numbers to look out for ahead of the ballot: More

A senior government minister widely tipped as a contender to succeed Boris Johnson has dodged questions over whether she will back the prime minister in this evening’s confidence vote over his leadership.Penny Mordaunt said that she had always “continued to support” Mr Johnson despite not backing him in the 2019 leadership contest.Her comments will raise doubts over whether she will vote for him to continue as Conservative leader.Rebel MPs told The Independent that the key to tonight’s result may be in the hands of ministers who offer public support for the PM but withhold their backing in the privacy of the voting booth.As many ministers sent out messages of support for Johnson on social media this morning, Ms Mordaunt raised eyebrows in Westminster by instead posting three tweets about D-Day anniversary commemorations in her Portsmouth constituency.And she did not give a clear answer when asked by the Portsmouth News whether she will back Johnson to stay on as leader in this evening’s vote.“I didn’t choose this prime minister, I didn’t support him in the leadership contest but he has always had my loyalty because I think that’s what you do when you have a democratic process – you select a leader and then you owe that person your loyalty,” said Ms Mordaunt.“That’s always been my approach, whatever differences I’ve had with people and that remains. I’m one of his ministers and I have continued to support him.“I hope that we can return swiftly to the real business at hand which is getting growth back into the economy and continuing our support in the Ukraine. I think being here, at the D-Day memorial in Portsmouth today, is a reminder of what’s really important outside the Westminster bubble.”Ms Mordaunt served in Theresa May’s cabinet as defence secretary and international development secretary, but left government when Mr Johnson took office in 2019. She returned to ministerial rank in 2020 and is currently a trade minister. More

Boris Johnson should stay on as prime minister even if he only wins tonight’s no-confidence ballot by one vote, minister for Brexit opportunities Jacob Rees-Mogg has said. Speaking to Sky News, Mr Rees-Mogg said even if Mr Johnson did not win a substantial victory in the vote this evening the PM would still hold a strong mandate for governing. “In a democracy, one is enough,” Mr Rees-Mogg said. “I think that the idea that there is a barrier different from the absolute barrier is false.”Mr Johnson has to secure 180 votes in the ballot this evening to win. Mr Rees-Mogg told Sky that he had tried to argue that Theresa May didn’t have a significant mandate to govern after she won her no-confidence vote. However he had to “eat a good deal of my own words”. More

Cabinet minister Nadine Dorries has come under fire after effectively admitting that the Conservative government failed to prepare the UK for a health emergency like Covid.In a scathing Twitter attack on Jeremy Hunt after his announcement he would vote against Boris Johnson in this evening’s confidence vote, Ms Dorries said that the former health secretary had overseen pandemic preparations which were “wanting and inadequate” during his time in office from 2012 to 2018.Shadow home secretary Wes Streeting said that the comment was “a damning indictment” of the government’s preparedness which showed that the Conservatives were “not fit to govern”.Ms Dorries claimed that in the early stages of the Covid outbreak in 2020, when she was a health minister, Mr Hunt contacted her to call for people testing positive to be placed in isolation hotels.And she said that the former health secretary had been “wrong about almost everything (and) wrong again now”.She wrote: “On the afternoon of 23rd July 2020 when I was health minister you telephoned me to tell me that we had to handle the pandemic following the example set by the East/China. That people testing positive should be removed from their homes and placed into isolation hotels for two weeks.“You said your wife’s family had experience of this during SARS. I said that British people would never tolerate being removed from their homes and loved ones at which point you demanded I show you the evidence for that. Your handling of the pandemic would have been a disaster.“Your pandemic preparation during six years as health secretary was found wanting and inadequate.Your duplicity right now in destabilising the party and country to serve your own personal ambition, more so.”Mr Streeting responded: “Conservative Cabinet minister admits that their pandemic preparation was ‘found wanting and inadequate’.“This is a revealing admission and damning indictment of the Conservatives’ pandemic preparedness. They’re not fit to govern.”Another Labour frontbencher Ruth Cadbury said: “Not only are the Conservatives now at war with each other, but former health minister and now cabinet minister Nadine Dorries has admitted that the Conservative government’s preparation for the pandemic was ‘wanting and inadequate’. Britain deserves better than this.” More

Boris Johnson faces a confidence vote barely a day after a dossier detailing his failings spread like wildfire among Tory MPs.The paper, entitled Party Leadership, was sent to Tory MPs questioning the prime minister’s role in the wake of the partygate scandal.It warned that the way to “end this misery” for MPs and the party was to remove Mr Johnson, who it described as “no longer an electoral asset”.Conservative MPs are increasingly fearful that Mr Johnson will lead them to lose their seats at the next general election, and hand the keys of No 10 to Labour.The party faces two key electoral tests later this month, which many MPs predict will be bloodbaths for the Conservatives.The document warned: “Boris Johnson is no longer an electoral asset and, if left in post, will lead the party to a substantial defeat in 2024.“He will lose Red Wall seats (with majorities under 10,000) to Labour, and Blue Wall seats (majorities up to 20,000) to the Liberal Democrats.“At least 160 MPs are at risk.” The rebels need the votes of 180 Tory MPs – half of the current total of 359 – to win later today and successfully oust Mr Johnson from office.His departure would be unlikely to happen imminently, however, as he would be expected to remain in post until a successor was chosen, a process that could last months. The dossier also warned that: “The only way to end this misery, earn a hearing from the British public, and restore Conservative fortunes to a point where we can win the next general election, is to remove Boris Johnson.”Those sharing the document were criticised by former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith , who accused them of disrespectful behaviour during the Queen’s Jubilee.He told the Daily Mail: “It is sad that during the course of the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations, some MPs took it upon themselves to drag internecine Conservative politics into the mix.“It showed no respect for this great moment of celebration.” But even as Mr Duncan Smith was speaking the prime minister was being informed that he would face the vote today. Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the powerful backbench 1922 Committee of Tory MPs, told Downing Street last night that he had received the 54 letters from Conservative MPs needed to trigger the ballot.Now a secret ballot vote will take place at Westminster between 6pm and 8pm this evenig. The result is expected to be announced immediately afterwards.Mr Johnson has faced a drip drip of calls from his won MPs to resign in the wake of the Sue Gray report into partiues and breaches of the Covid regulations in No 10 and Whitehall during the Covid pandemic. More

Former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt has made clear he will vote to remove Boris Johnson as Conservative leader, declaring: “Today’s decision is change or lose. I will be voting for change.”Mr Hunt is expected to be a leading contender in the battle to succeed Mr Johnson as prime minister if he is ousted in the confidence vote by Tory MPs this evening.His comment was met by a ferocious backlash from Johnson loyalist Nadine Dorries, who accused him of “duplicity” and said that pandemic preparedness during his tenure as health secretary was “inadequate”.Mr Hunt is the most senior Tory to call for Johnson’s removal, and his intervention will give heart to rebels who have so far had no potential replacement to rally around.However, his record as a Remainer makes him an unlikely victor in a leadership vote of Conservative members, who chose Johnson over Hunt by 66 to 34 per cent in 2019.In a statement on Twitter shortly after the announcement of today’s vote of no confidence, Mr Hunt wrote: “The Conservative Party must now decide if it wishes to change its leader. Because of the situation in Ukraine this was not a debate I wanted to have now but under our rules we must do that.“Having been trusted with power, Conservative MPs know in our hearts we are not giving the British people the leadership they deserve. We are not offering the integrity, competence and vision necessary to unleash the enormous potential of our country.“And because we are no longer trusted by the electorate, who know this too, we are set to lose the next general election.“Anyone who believes our country is stronger, fairer and more prosperous when led by Conservatives should reflect that the consequence of not changing will be to hand the country to others who do not share those values.“Today’s decision is change or lose. I will be voting for change.”In a furious response on Twitter, culture secretary Ms Dorries claimed that Mr Hunt “would have handed the keys of No10 to Corbyn” if he had won the leadership election in 2019.In an effective admission that the Conservative government had failed to get the UK ready for the Covid outbreak, she told Mr Hunt: “You’ve been wrong about almost everything, you are wrong again now.“Your pandemic preparation during six years as health secretary was found wanting and inadequate. Your duplicity right now in destabilising the party and country to serve your own personal ambition, more so.” More

Boris Johnson has written a three-page latter to Tory MPs seeking for their support ahead on tonight’s no-confidence vote in his leadership of the Conservative party.The prime minister says the upcoming vote is a “golden opportunity” to put an end to “the media’s favourite obsession”, a line interpreted as a veiled reference to the Partygate scandal.MPs should back him in order to focus on the “priorities of the British people” despite months of criticism which have been “painful for the whole party”, the prime minister said.The letter was prepared after Sir Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 committee of Tory MPs informed the prime minister that letters of no confidence had breached the threshold required for a vote.“I am asking for your support tonight because I know how much we can achieve together,” the letter said, before listing “tough” decisions taken during Mr Johnson’s tenure including the pandemic.It added: “As the whole world struggles with the economic impact of Putin’s aggression we have already taken decisive action – just as we took action during Covid – to shield the public from the energy price spike.”Mr Johnson also noted that he and the chancellor will be setting out new plans based on “Conservative principles” in the “next few weeks” after some MPs criticised plans for tax rises on businesses and households.“We will cut the costs of the government. We will cut the costs of business,” the letter said.It comes as a slew of MPs have taken to Twitter to express either support or a desire for change in the leadership of the political party.Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt MP said on social media that Monday’s vote was a choice between a new leader or losing the next general election.”Having been trusted with power, Conservative MPs know in our hearts we are not giving the British people the leadership they deserve. We are not offering the integrity, competence and vision necessary to unleash the enormous potential of our country.”And because we are no longer trusted by the electorate, who know this too, we are set to lose the next general election.He added: “Today’s decision is change or lose. I will be voting for change”.The prime minister’s anti-corruption tsar, Conservative MP John Penrose resigned on Monday.In a letter to Mr Johnson, he accused the prime minister of breaching the code on the grounds that he had failed to provide adequate leadership over partygate.Mr Penrose said: “The only fair conclusion to draw from the Sue Gray report is that you have breached a fundamental principle of the ministerial code – a clear resigning matter.”However, cabinet ministers and some MPs have issued public support for the prime minister ahead of Monday’s anonymous vote.Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, tweeted: “The prime minister has my 100% 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.” More