Boris Johnson should hold a vote of confidence to confirm his leadership after the conclusion of the police investigation into parties at No 10 and if local elections go badly for the Conservatives, a Tory MP has said.
Tobias Ellwood, the chair of the Commons defence committee, warned that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, could “exploit” the prime minister’s image as a law-breaker following the fixed-penalty notices for attending parties in No 10.
Ellwood, the MP for Bournemouth East, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think the prime minister has made his intentions clear – he wants to stay – but this is bigger than the prime minister.”
He said that since the scandal risked harming the party’s reputation, Johnson owed it to the parliamentary party to hold a vote of confidence.
He added that the Partygate scandal undermined the UK’s image as a “beacon of democracy” by eroding the high standards that politicians have set themselves and historically upheld.
He warned that “this is something Putin will no doubt exploit – how can a lawmaker also be a law-breaker? This is not a good look.”
Ellwood said he thought Johnson should resign now since the war in Ukraine was likely to continue for some time, adding it was not unprecedented for leaders to be replaced in times of crisis, citing the replacement of the UK’s head of the armed forces in December with an admiral with no combat experience.
He said: “Every month, every year, European security is going to deteriorate well beyond Ukraine.
“Our formidable government apparatus, our well-oiled MoD [Ministry of Defence] machine, allows us to do just that – to replace people if that is required. Our approach to Ukraine would remain consistent, so I do hope that we won’t use the war as a fig leaf to dodge these tough questions that, absolutely, we must address.”
The Scottish National party’s Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, said Johnson’s position was no longer tenable. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think the court of public opinion will give that judgment on the prime minister.
“Everybody knows that parties were taking place at 10 Downing Street, everybody knows that the prime minister has been convicted.
“We can talk about parliamentary procedure and the fact he has broken the ministerial code as a consequence of his behaviour. But the fundamental point here is we have the first prime minister in history who has been found guilty of breaking the law. The prime minister is there to, first and foremost, uphold the law.”
It comes after the Conservative peer David Wolfson quit his role as justice minister on Wednesday following the news that Johnson and Rishi Sunak had been given a fixed-penalty notice for breaking their own Covid laws by attending a party for the prime minister’s birthday in No 10.
Wolfson said he was resigning not only because of the prime minister’s own conduct but also the official response to what took place. He said the behaviour stood in stark contrast to many in society who “complied with the rules at great personal cost, and others were fined or prosecuted for similar, and sometimes apparently more trivial, offences”.
