A confidence vote in the Prime Minister could be announced this week as allies of Boris Johnson appeared braced for a test of his leadership.
A minister admitted the Conservative Party “may well” hold a vote on whether to keep Mr Johnson as leader, but backed him to “face down” the rebels calling for him to quit. Almost 30 Tory MPs have publicly urged the Prime Minister to resign amid the fallout from revelations about Downing Street parties held during lockdown, but reports have suggested more MPs privately want him to go and that enough letters demanding a confidence vote have been submitted to trigger such a showdown.
Under Conservative Party rules, if 54 letters from MPs are sent to Sir Graham Brady – the chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tories – asking for a leadership poll then a vote is called. Only Sir Graham knows how many letters have been received, but he does not reveal the number until publicly declaring the threshold has been reached.
