Senior Tory MP Sir Bob Neill has submitted a letter of no confidence in Boris Johnson’s management because the variety of Conservatives calling for the prime minister to go ramps up after the Sue Grey report.
Sir Bob, who chairs the Justice Choose Committee, mentioned Ms Gray’s report into lockdown-breaking events in Downing Road has “highlighted a sample of wholly unacceptable behaviour” by some working in Quantity 10.
“I’ve listened rigorously to the reasons the prime minister has given, in parliament and elsewhere, and regrettably, don’t discover his assertions, both that no guidelines have been damaged or that he was unaware of the breaches, to be credible. I can not settle for that he was not conscious of a lot of what was occurring,” the previous lawyer wrote on Friday afternoon.
“That’s the reason, with a heavy coronary heart, I submitted a letter of no confidence to Sir Graham Brady on Wednesday afternoon.”
He wrote within the Telegraph that for the Conservatives to win the following common election, “it requires a change of chief” as he highlighted how his secure Tory seat of Bromley misplaced seats in Might’s council elections as a result of folks “couldn’t assist us beneath Boris’s management”.
Sir Bob added that he has at all times bought on properly with Mr Johnson, campaigned for him to develop into mayor of London “the place he did an excellent job” and mentioned he has carried out properly with the COVID vaccine roll-out and over Ukraine.
“I’ve no private animosity in the direction of him, however I’ve come to the conclusion that he ought to now stand down,” he mentioned.
The one person who is aware of what number of MPs have submitted a letter is Sir Graham, chair of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs. It takes 54 letters to set off a no-confidence vote within the PM.
Sky Information has counted 22 MPs – together with Sir Bob – publicly calling for Mr Johnson to stop instantly because the Met Police fined the PM in mid-April.
Simply earlier than Sir Bob revealed he had put a letter in, Alicia Kearns, MP for Rutland and Melton, mentioned Mr Johnson “continues to not maintain my confidence”, however didn’t reveal if she had despatched a letter.
The MP is a part of the 2019 consumption who helped Mr Johnson win a big majority.
She mentioned she can solely conclude the PM’s account of occasions to parliament – when he mentioned no events came about – “was deceptive – if he didn’t know concerning the tradition of events, then it is because he did not ask the questions essential, or has chosen to not since final October”.
Earlier on Friday, Tory MP Paul Holmes stop his position as a parliamentary personal secretary on the Residence Workplace, saying a “deep distrust in each the federal government and the Conservative occasion” had been created by the occasions.
Mr Holmes mentioned a “poisonous tradition… appeared to have permeated Quantity 10”.
There was a gentle drip of Tory MPs calling for the PM to go following the Met Police investigation and the publication of the damning Sue Grey report on Wednesday.
However on Friday, requested whether or not he was assured he had sufficient assist, Mr Johnson replied: “Sure, however I believe I gave some fairly classic and exhaustive solutions on all that topic the opposite day within the Home of Commons. Then in a subsequent press convention.”
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The 37-page report by Ms Grey supplied particulars of raucous events in Downing Road and Whitehall till the early hours of the morning, with “extreme alcohol” consumed, leading to vomiting and a “minor altercation”.
She discovered “failures of management and judgment” throughout each Quantity 10 and the Cupboard Workplace and mentioned occasions have been “attended by leaders in authorities” and “mustn’t have been allowed to occur”.
The Met Police investigation, which completed final week, has come beneath criticism for under fining the PM as soon as when Ms Grey confirmed he was at different occasions the place folks have been fined.
