Boris Johnson must go

He’s in real trouble: Boris is warned Tory MPs are ‘moving towards’ a full confidence vote NEXT WEEK as Andrea Leadsom becomes the latest Partygate critic, poll gives Labour an 11-point lead – and Whips resurrect Operation Save Big Dog.

Boris Johnson was warned he is in ‘real trouble’ today as Tory no-confidence letters near the ‘magic number’ of 54.

Former leader Lord Hague said the party was ‘moving towards’ holding a full vote on the PM’s future in the wake of Partygate – potentially as soon as next week.

Ex-Cabinet minister Andrea Leadsom has become the latest senior figure to question Mr Johnson’s position this morning, accusing him of ‘unacceptable failures’.

How could Boris Johnson be ousted by Tory MPs?

What is the mechanism for removing the Tory leader? 

 Tory Party rules allow the MPs to force a vote of no confidence in their leader.

How is that triggered? 

 A vote is in the hands of the chairman of the Tory Party’s backbench 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady.

A vote of no confidence must be held if 15 per cent of Tory MPs write to the chairman. Currently that threshold is 54 MPs.

Letters are confidential unless the MP sending it makes it public. This means only Sir Graham knows how many letters there are.

What happens when the threshold is reached?

A vote is held, with the leader technically only needing to win support from a simple majority of MPs

But in reality, a solid victory is essential for them to stay in post.

What happens if the leader loses? 

The leader is sacked if they do not win a majority of votes from MPs, and a leadership contest begins in which they cannot stand.

However, they typically stay on as Prime Minister until a replacement is elected. 

What should Boris do now?

Even though Boris has several achievements to his name, this entire episode confirms one thing, Boris is more concerned about holding the position of Prime Minister, than he has respect for the position of Captain of HMS Great Britain. I first saw this trait when he stepped in to lead the ‘leave campaign’

Boris was initially a remainer, along with most of the political classes, he clearly saw the campaign as an opportunity to take on a high profile role, in full expectation that it would fail. When Theresa May stepped in, she attempted to sabotage Brexit under the guise of negotiating Brexit, but she failed. Boris won his mandate on the grounds of getting Brexit done, but in reality, he was saying whatever needed to be said, just to get in to office, the rest we know.

Moving on to the pandemic, the motives for anything that Boris did remain unclear, as far as I’m concerned, the entire episode appears to have been a ‘Boris PR campaign’

Whilst I respected the fact that Boris appeared to have refused to enforce a lockdown, until the ‘scaremongering Brain-Surgeons’ by his side, presented such an effective scare-campaign, that they forced his hand, even though, none of their terrifying predictions were even remotely accurate. However, behind the scenes, draconian laws were still put in to place, one of the greatest erosion of our civil liberties in decades and Boris did absolutely nothing to stand against the incoming ‘Police-State’

I do not feel that Boris actually did anything that was so bad and there is clearly an agenda by the media and the inept opposition, who do not have a dingle viable policy, so they simply resort to hiding behind a wall and throwing stones.

The problem is thus, trivial as it may seem, if the facts were as Boris had stated, that whilst at a place of work, during a break, when they were outside, he was presented with a cake and a drink, there was nothing illegal about that, after all, there was no law against colleagues eating their lunch together at their place of work, especially outside. As for all the rest of the evidence, it is little more than hearsay, poison that has been drip-fed, probably by the bitter and vengeful Cummins.

The problem has been that Boris did not give a clear and comprehensive account of what happened, dealing with it at the time and closing the door, he preferred to hide behind the Sue Grey report, which was little more than a delaying tactic. The problem with that is that Boris allowed this matter to remain in the public domain for longer, with ongoing media exposure, the drama from the ‘holier than though’ Keir Starmer’ and the result has been, that the institution of Government has been humiliated on an international scale.

This Bacchanalian culture has discredited the entire cabinet, where the Prime Minister should resonate the throng of ‘Rule Britannia’ it has been more like ‘Twas on a good ship Venus’

This is very sad, as the war in Ukraine has demonstrated that Boris is capable of being an international statesman, leading from the front in support of the defence of Ukraine, but that does not erase what happened.

The position of Prime Minister is a responsibility, it is greater than any one person, as it is a position where one has an obligation to the nation.

Boris should have explained himself and called a vote of no confidence immediately, but the path he chose, has dragged the government through the gutter, causing irreparable damage and for this reason, if he really has any respect for his position, he should no go.

The problem is, who will replace him, time will answer that question.