Conservative MPs in and around Bristol appear divided over the future of their leader and Prime Minister Boris Johnson, ahead of tonight’s vote on his position as leader. Loyal MPs including Jacob Rees Mogg and Jack Lopresti have already pledged their allegiance to Mr Johnson but another local MP has resigned his post and called on the Prime Minister to resign himself.
Three other Tory MPs in the Bristol area are yet to say publicly which way they will vote, although they have previously said the support the Prime Minister. Johnson loyalist Jacob Rees Mogg, the MP for North East Somerset - a constituency that includes Keynsham and Whitchurch Village on the edge of Bristol - said he would be backing the Prime Minister.
Mr Rees Mogg, who is the Government minister responsible for ‘Brexit Opportunities and Government efficiency’, shared an opinion piece written by fellow MP Steve Barclay, which called on Tory MPs to back the Prime Minister. “The time for navel-gazing has ended,” he said. “The British people gave Boris a mandate, Tory MPs would be wise to accept it,” he added. He also said the volume of the crowd's booing of the Prime Minister as he entered and left the Platinum Jubilee thanksgiving service over the weekend had been 'turned up'.
