BORIS Johnson could face a second vote of no confidence from his own party if Tory rebels get their way.
The news comes after reports that "several" letters of no confidence were submitted to the 1922 Committee on Tuesday alone.
The Prime Minister narrowly saw off a challenge to his leadership in early June after at least 54 MPs – 15% of the party’s representatives in the Commons – sent a letter of no confidence to that backbencher committee.
Tory MPs voted by 211 to 148 in the secret ballot to keep the Prime Minister in place, meaning Johnson clung to power despite having lost the support of some 41% of his own party.
The Prime Minister’s victory means he is free from similar challenge for 12 months under current rules, but Tory rebels may hope to see a change that allows another no confidence vote more rapidly.
One plan, reported in the Telegraph, is to add a new rule saying that if 90 letters – representing 25% of the party – are submitted, it could trigger a new vote immediately.
The Prime Minister has found himself in further trouble after he was accused of having ignored warnings about the behaviour of Tory MP Chris Pincher (below) before appointing him to the deputy chief whip role.
Pincher resigned his role, and later had the whip suspended, after he was accused of groping two men in a private members’ club.
Downing Street claimed that no formal action had been taken against Pincher and that Johnson had been unaware of any allegations against the MP when he made him deputy chief whip in February. However, a peer and former top civil servant Simon McDonald went public with claims that this was a lie.
The Pincher affair is said to have sickened Tory MPs, with Westminster watchers noting a sour atmosphere at the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
ITV’s Paul Brand reported that further letters of no confidence to the 1922 Committee over the scandal were being coordinated and that “several letters have gone in today alone”.
Elections for the 1922 Committee’s executive are due to take place next week, and a change of leadership could bring in a change of rules.
Brand added: “If rebels succeed in electing sympathetic candidates they hope for a fast change of the rules and potentially even a second vote of confidence before summer recess. Whether this is realistic or not remains to be seen.”
Speaking on the BBC, senior Tory MP Sir Roger Gale (above) said the Pincher scandal had changed his view on the matter.
The Conservative MP for North Thanet told the broadcaster: “I’ve been saying for days now that I was not in favour of changing the rules of the 1922 Committee to permit another vote of no confidence…
“Lord McDonald's letter has changed my view. It is so blatant a lie that it has to be acted upon as swiftly as possible by my party."
Asked if it was “likely” that such rule changes would go ahead, Gale said: “I had thought not. I am revising that view.”
Johnson is also facing an investigation from Westminster’s Privileges Committee over allegations he misled Parliament over the partygate scandal which saw him fined for breaking the Covid laws he had put in place.
Reports have said that, if the committee rules that Johnson did mislead the Commons and hands him a suspension, then the current 1922 executive would allow a second vote of no confidence in his leadership.
Sir Bernard Jenkin, a Tory MP who sits on the Privileges Committee, said on Tuesday that Johnson's government was promoting people with the "wrong attitudes and behaviours" and in doing so giving permission for those behaviours.
Ten days after the first vote, Johnson was forced to accept the resignation of his second ethics advisor in two years.
Christopher Geidt resigned in mid-June saying the Prime Minister had been considering action which risked a deliberate breach of his own ministerial code, while Alex Allan quit in late 2020 after Johnson ignored findings of bullying in Home Secretary Priti Patel’s office.
Another wave of no-confidence letters was reported to have been sent to the 1922 Committee after the Tories lost two key by-elections in a single day.
