BORIS Johnson could face a vote of confidence in his leadership as early as next week, a Tory grandee has suggested.
The Prime Minister is desperately trying to shore up support from his MPs as a senior party figure and once close ally, Andrea Leadsom, openly criticised him.
Ms Leadsom, a Brexiteer who backed Mr Johnson for leader, said earlier that the “extent and severity” of the rule-breaking exposed in the Sue Gray report meant it was “extremely unlikely” the senior leadership did not know what was going on.
While not confirming whether she had submitted a letter of no confidence, she added: “The conclusion I have drawn from the Sue Gray report is that there have been unacceptable failings of leadership that cannot be tolerated and are the responsibility of the Prime Minister.”
READ MORE: Former Attorney General Jeremy Wright calls for Boris Johnson to go
William Hague, former Tory leader, warned that the “fuse” was edging closer to the “dynamite”.
Around 27 MPs have now publicly stated they have submitted letters of no confidence, with 54 needed to trigger a vote.
More than 40 have openly questioned his future and criticised his behaviour.
Mr Johnson was reported to have been calling round his MPs today, trying to gain back their support and get a sense of how many letters could have been submitted to oust him.
Labour described the move as “pathetic” and said the Prime Minister was “phoning around his mutinous MPs offering out baubles in a doomed attempt to save his own skin.”
Angela Rayner, the party’s deputy leader, said: “His dishevelled Government is asleep at the wheel at the very time that their rank incompetence has left us with the highest inflation in the G7 and a cost of living crisis that is worsening every day.
“The Prime Minister should get off the blower and instead get a grip on the passport delays and travel chaos that is threatening to blight the Jubilee weekend for so many.”
David Linden, SNP MP, suggested that Mr Johnson should “put even half as much energy into alleviating poverty as he does when it comes to saving his own skin.”
Conservative MP John Stevenson also submitted his letter of no confidence today, after Mr Johnson did not respond to calls to put himself forward for a confidence vote by Tory MPs.
“Sadly, the Prime Minister appears unwilling to bring matters to a head and submit himself to such a vote,” the Carlisle MP said in a statement on social media.
“Therefore, the only option is for the Conservative MPs to facilitate a vote of confidence. I have already take the appropriate action.”
Tory grandee and former party leader William Hague warned the “fuse” was coming closer to the dynamite in terms of triggering a vote on the Prime Minister’s leadership.
Speaking this afternoon, Lord Hague said: “I said this was a slow fuse. Well such a letter from, I guess a senior figure, Andrea Leadsom is the fuse.“The fuse is getting closer to the dynamite here and it’s speeding up.
“So I think that’s just another indication the Conservative Party is moving faster towards a vote of confidence or no confidence.
“A leadership ballot, which I said earlier could come next week, or at the end of June, a few more letters like that and it will come next week.”
Allies of Mr Johnson had been hopeful he had escaped unscathed following a relatively muted initial response to Ms Gray’s report last week, but Lord Hague said it is proving to be “one of those sort of slow-fuse explosions in politics”
He added: “It’s still going along.
“A lot of people misread it really, the events of last week as meaning the trouble is over, Boris is free and that’s actually not the mood in the Conservative Party, which is very, very troubled about the contents of that report.
“So I think the Conservative Party will need to resolve this one way or another, obviously because to be an effective party they either need to rally behind the Prime Minister they’ve got, or they need to decide to force him out.
“I think they’re moving towards either next week or around the end of June, they are moving towards having a ballot, it looks like that.”
Former education secretary Justine Greening said the Prime Minister needs to “get a grip or get out”.
Ms Greening, who was among 21 pro-Remain rebels thrown out of the party by Mr Johnson and is now no longer an MP, likened his position to that of Theresa May when she was under fire from Tory Brexiteers.
She said: “There is a real jitteriness around the parliamentary party of following a Prime Minister who isn’t really setting out a clear plan on necessarily where he wants to lead the country.
“We have been here before with Theresa May.
“The reality is all prime ministers either have to get a grip or get out. That is a political rule that even Boris Johnson will need to follow.”
Arts minister, Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay, said it is “pointless” to speculate but acknowledged the uncertainty is a “distraction” from the Government’s efforts on the cost of living crisis.
He said: “It’s pointless speculating about something unless or until it happens.
“In Government we’re getting on with making sure that we grow the economy to help with the cost of living.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel