Sunderland MP urges Tories to show Boris Johnson the door in confidence vote

The Prime Minister will face a vote of confidence by his own MPs this evening, Monday, June 6, after discontent over lockdown-busting parties in No 10 and the direction of his leadership reached a tipping point.

Mr Johnson was informed on Sunday that he would face the vote after Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, confirmed he had received the 54 letters from Conservative MPs needed to trigger the ballot.

The vote – by secret ballot – will take place at Westminster on Monday between 6pm and 8pm, with the count to take place immediately afterwards.

Houghton and Sunderland South MP Bridget Phillipson said: “The Prime Minister has lost the trust, confidence and respect of the British people. They are rightly fed up with the lies and the chaos we see from this government.”

The Shadow Education Secretary added: “Boris Johnson is more concerned with protecting his job, than protecting the public from the cost of living crisis his ministers have made worse.

“It’s time for Conservative MPs to do the decent thing, the Prime Minister has got to go.”

Her Labour colleague and Easington MP Grahame Morris said Mr Johnson should quit if he did not secure a convincing majority of Tory MPs.

“A no-confidence vote in the Prime Minister is long overdue,” he said.

"This vote is a test of the values and principles of the Conservative Party and whether they uphold standards in public life.

"We await the result but if a significant number of his own party vote against him, the Prime Minister should stand down. If not, I hope the Opposition will call a no-confidence vote in the Commons and allow Parliament to remove this disgraced Prime Minister."

Sunderland City Council Lib Dem leader Coun Niall Hodson said the PM should go: "Boris Johnson should do the decent thing and resign.

"The country needs strong leadership focused on tackling the worsening cost of living emergency - not more months of a distracting Westminster soap opera as the Conservative Party tries to save its own skin and justify repeated law breaking in Downing Street."