Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the backbench 1922, has confirmed that he has received the 52 letters needed from Conservative MPs to trigger a vote of no-confidence.
It now means Boris Johnson faces the full wrath of Tory MPs over the disclosure of the Sue Gray report which revealed his involvement in a number of parties hosted in Downing Street at the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. The secret ballot vote will take place at Westminster on Monday between 6pm and 8pm, with counts taking place immediately afterwards.
It comes after a variety of Tory MPs publicly condemned the Prime Minister and called for him to stand down after breaching Covid regulations in both No 10 and Whitefall. Speaking shortly after Sir Graham made his announcement, Health Secretary Sajid Javid told Sky News: “If there is (a vote) the Prime Minister will stand and fight his corner with a very, very strong case.”
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In order for the Prime Minister to be kicked out of his executive position, the backbench rebellion will need the approval of 180 MPs. If the government loses the vote of no-confidence, Boris Johnson will be obliged to resign from his position and call a new General Election.
However, if the government wins the vote then they are under no obligation to take any actions. Despite the growing controversy emanating from the current Cabinet, it is not guaranteed they will lose the vote.
It is extremely rare for a government to lose a vote of no confidence, with the last successful vote taking place in 1979 against James Callaghan's Labour government. Following the conclusion of her investigation, Ms Gray condemned Boris Johnson's leadership during the pandemic.
“There were failures of leadership and judgement by different parts of No 10 and the Cabinet Office at different times,” she wrote. “Some of the events should not have been allowed to take place. Other events should not have been allowed to develop as they did.”
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