Rebel Tories Plot Move Against Johnson as More Ministers Resign
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Boris Johnson could face a leadership challenge as soon as next week as rank-and-file Conservative MPs meet Wednesday to discuss whether to allow a fresh confidence vote.
Members of the Tory 1922 Committee will meet at 5 p.m. to discuss Johnson, a person familiar with the matter said. If there is a majority in favor of another confidence vote, a ballot could come as soon as next week, the person said.
The threat comes with Johnson on red alert for signs of a coordinated plot from his ministers to bring him down, according to a senior government official, following the resignations of Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid on Tuesday. There has been a steady flow of Tory MPs resigning from more junior positions on Wednesday.
After a dramatic scramble to shore up his administration and replace Sunak and Javid, Johnson is prepared to ride out those blows on a difficult day in which he’ll be under constant scrutiny. First he’ll face questions in the House of Commons at 12 p.m. and later in the afternoon, he’s due to appear before Parliament’s Liaison Committee for a grilling on topics including “integrity in politics and the rule of law.”
But the prime minister’s allies judge that he’d struggle to survive if six or eight of his cabinet quit because that would lay bare his lack of support and leave him struggling to even form a top team, the official said.
So far, officials in No. 10 reckon that other key figures such as Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Defense Secretary Ben Wallace will continue to support the prime minister, but they are taking nothing for granted. Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi agreed late on Tuesday to replace Sunak at the Treasury.
“The public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously,” Sunak wrote in his resignation letter. “I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning.”
Read More: Britain’s New Chancellor Zahawi Is ‘Determined’ to Cut Taxes
On Wednesday morning, junior Education Minister Will Quince said he had no choice but to resign after receiving “inaccurate” briefings from No 10 before he was sent on the airwaves to defend Johnson’s handling of a scandal involving Chris Pincher, an MP who the prime minister promoted in February despite receiving prior warnings about inappropriate behavior.
Resignations
That row exploded last week when Pincher resigned as a government whip, or political enforcer, following newspaper allegations he had groped two men. He has denied the specific allegations while acknowledging in his resignation letter that he’d “embarrassed” himself and “caused upset” to others.
The crisis deepened when more allegations against Pincher emerged over the weekend, and Downing Street was forced to change its position about exactly what Johnson knew and when. Ministerial aide Laura Trott resigned Wednesday saying “trust in politics is -- and must always be -- of the utmost importance, but sadly in recent months this has been lost.”
Late on Tuesday a string of junior officials followed Sunak and Javid in abandoning Johnson. Alex Chalk resigned as Solicitor General, while Jonathan Gullis, a vocal supporter of Johnson in the House of Commons, quit as a ministerial aide, as did Virginia Crosbie.
“I know you love this country,” Crosbie said in her resignation letter. “You can serve it one last time by leaving office.”
Tory anger at Johnson has been building for months over his conduct in office, including becoming the first sitting premier found to have broken the law when he was fined over illegal parties in Downing Street during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Another threat to Johnson is the prospect of his opponents within the party taking control of the critical 1922 Committee of backbench MPs, which last month organized a confidence vote in the premier that he narrowly survived with some 40% of his own MPs voting against him.
If the chairman of the committee simply told Johnson that he’d lost the confidence of the party he’d most likely just ignore him, the official said.
However, if the rebels were able to demonstrate they could defeat the prime minister in a confidence vote, they might be able to change the party rules to trigger another ballot and that could force Johnson from office. Under current rules, he’s immune from another challenge for a year.
Much is therefore riding on the meeting on Wednesday.
‘Modicum of Decorum’
Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen is standing to be on the executive of the 1922 Committee so that he can force a rule change and have another leadership ballot before Parliament breaks for its summer vacation.
“Ideally I’d like colleagues in the cabinet to tell him the game’s up and Boris Johnson to accept it and leave with a modicum of decorum,” Bridgen told BBC News on Wednesday. “If not we will have to change the rules of the 1922 Committee and throw him out.”
The other danger is that the main opposition Labour Party could force a confidence vote in the House of Commons. Officials in No. 10 say they aren’t confident they have the support to win that vote and defeat could see them forced into an election when Johnson is at his weakest.
Still, Johnson’s allies could be using the threat of an election to bring rebels into line.
The leader of the opposition can call a confidence vote at any point and the convention is that one would then be held. It needs a simple majority to pass. If the government loses, it has 14 days to try to win another vote, most likely by selecting a different Tory leader. If they cannot command the confidence of the Commons after two weeks, a general election is triggered.
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