Boris Johnson has been slammed by local MPs after yesterday’s no-confidence vote saw the Prime Minister cling on to his job despite suffering heavy blows from members of his own party.
The PM encountered a bruising night, with 148 of his own MPs voting to state that they had no confidence in his leadership amidst ongoing tensions surrounding the partygate scandal. And now a Merseyside MP has called for Mr Johnson’s resignation.
Mick Whitley, member of parliament for Birkenhead, said: “Boris Johnson has the haunted look of a dead man walking. The Tory Party is now hopelessly split, yet Johnson is still in office. This cannot go on - that is what my constituents are telling me. They are dismayed at the moral decay that now festers at the heart of British politics.”
READ MORE: Tour operator launch 'legal action' over cancelled Paris flights
Mr Whitley’s sentiments were echoed by fellow Labour Party member Justin Madders, MP for Ellesmere Port and Neston, who said Mr Johnson has ‘no moral authority’, after a report by top civil servant Sue Gray revealed the staggering extent of lawbreaking and debauchery that had gone on inside Number 10.
Mr Madders told the ECHO: “Boris Johnson should have resigned months ago - he broke the rules he sat and lied to Parliament about it repeatedly. He has no moral authority to lead the nation and in light of yesterday’s vote he doesn’t have the political authority either.
"Around three quarters of his backbenchers have said they don’t have confidence in him- he cannot run a Government with such a lack of support from his own MPs and with the many challenges the country faces it needs leadership that he cannot offer.”
However, on the streets of Hoylake, in Wirral, today, the topic of the Prime Minister’s future divided opinion.
Hoylake native Graham Goodwin, 66, said: “I think he should stay because who’s going to replace him. I’ve voted Labour all my life but I voted Conservative at the last election because who’s going to replace him? I don’t trust Labour either. You can guarantee that they’ll have had their own partygates but they’ve just not been caught.”
The virtues of the opposition were also questioned by 76-year-old David Saunders, from Wallasey, who said: “I think he should stay. Yes he’s made mistakes but the man who’s never made a mistake never made anything. The opposition is dreadful and I think the whole partygate thing just needs to be forgotten about now.”
Sue Gray’s report investigated 16 events that were deemed to have breached coronavirus restrictions, one of which was a "socially-distanced garden party" for around 200 staff members at Downing Street. Whilst Hoylake resident Gregory Chorley, 55, condemned the PM’s involvement in such events, he believes there are currently no viable candidates to replace him.
He told the ECHO: “The only thing is, if he goes, who are they going to get to replace him? I think he should stay for the time being. I did think partygate was wrong because I stuck to the rules and it does seem to be one rule for us and another rule for him.”
Contrastingly, Karen Lester, 60, from Hoylake, believes any alternative is better than Mr Johnson. She said: “I’m just disgusted with him being in power. I have been for a long time. I think he should definitely go. I have no confidence in him, because if someone lies like that you can’t trust them.”
And Ms. Lester’s views were shared by William Bennet, 71, from Liverpool, who said: “I think Boris should go. I think he should do the honourable thing and resign. If his own party don’t fully back him, then he needs to resign.”
Conservative Party rules state that once a Prime Minister wins a confidence motion, another such vote cannot be held for 12 months, but it's been hinted the rules could be changed in order to facilitate another such vote sooner. Furthermore, if Mr Johnson leads his party to defeat in by-elections in Wakefield and Tiverton later this month then he may well not be out of trouble yet.
