More bad news for Boris as another Tory MP submits letter of no confidence
Another Tory MP has confirmed he has submitted a letter of no confidence in Boris Johnson over the Downing Street party scandal.
Aaron Bell said he wrote his letter following PMQs on January 12, when the prime minister admitted to attending a BYOB bash while the nation was in lockdown but claimed he thought it was a ‘work event’.
The Brexiteer, who was elected in Newcastle-under-Lyme in 2019, said he was ‘disappointed it had come to this’.
He said: ‘The breach of trust that the events in No 10 Downing Street represent, and the manner in which they have been handled, makes his position untenable.’
Mr Bell is one of at least 13 Tories known to have submitted no confidence letters since the partygate scandal unfolded.
That includes senior Conservative Tobias Ellwood, who said it was ‘time for the prime minister to take a grip’ and call a confidence vote himself, rather than wait for the ‘inevitable’.
Mr Johnson will face a vote of confidence if 54 Conservatives – 15% of the party’s 360 MPs – send letters to Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee, demanding a leadership contest.
Mr Bell is the fifth Tory to announce they have lost confidence in the PM and submitted a letter to Sir Graham this week.
On Wednesday, Totnes and South Devon MP Andrew Mangnall tweeted: ‘Standards in public life matter. At this time I can no longer support the PM.
‘His actions and mistruths are overshadowing the extraordinary work of so many excellent ministers and colleagues. I have submitted a letter of no confidence.’
Pressure is mounting on the PM to resign following weeks of reports claiming his team staged and attended lockdown parties when millions of people were in quarantine at home.
The latest criticism from MPs comes after fresh reports in two newspapers claiming Mr Johnson attended a party in his flat and two other leaving dos.
Sue Gray’s pared-back report into the party scandal, released on Monday, revealed the three previously unknown lockdown events in Downing Street.
The report said the gatherings represented a ‘serious failure’ and were ‘difficult to justify’.
However its findings were limited due to the ongoing criminal investigation. The Metropolitan Police are currently probing alleged rule-breaking at a total of 12 parties in No 10 and Whitehall.
Sir Graham will not say how many letters have been submitted until the number reaches 54.
Former Conservative special adviser, Chris White, said there is a ‘steady drip feed’ of letters coming in.
He pointed out that Mr Bell strongly supported the prime minister in 2019 when he was newly elected as an MP.
‘And so for effectively for him to lose confidence in the prime minister, I think shows a steady drip, drip of no confidence letters going in. We had other letters go in this week,’ he told Sky News.
The no confidence letters come amid an exods of No 10 staff.
Five aides have quit in the last 24 hours as the fall out over party gate continues.
Yesterday Munira Mirza, one of the PM’s longest-serving aides quit in disgust over the prime minister’s inaccurate claim that Keir Starmer failed to prosecute the paedophile Jimmy Savile.
Three more aides then followed her out the door – Private secretary Martin Reynolds and chief of staff Dan Rosenfield, who have been linked to Downing Street lockdown parties, along with communications chief Jack Doyle.
No10 allies claimed those three were part of a planned clearout, but then a fifth aide’s resignation emerged this morning.
Well-respected policy adviser Elena Narozanski has followed Mirza out the door.
The beleaguered Prime Minister sought to rally Downing Street staff with a line from The Lion King today, telling them ‘Change is good.’
But in further embarrassment for the PM, Health Secretary Saijid Javid publically distanced himself from the Saville comment.
He is the second cabinet minister to criticise the remarks, after Chancellor Rishi Sunak told reporters yesterday: ‘I wouldn’t have said it.’
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