Starmer urges Conservatives to oust Johnson as PM faces confidence vote

Boris Johnson is facing a vote of no confidence this evening – a chance for the Tories to rid the country of this Prime Minister and kick-off a leadership election. How did we get here? A confidence vote is triggered when 15% of Conservative MPs (which currently amounts to 54) request one by writing to the chair of the 1922 committee – a committee made up of all Tory backbenchers. The chair of that committee, Sir Graham Brady, announced around 8am this morning that the 54-letter threshold has been reached, and the vote is expected to be held between 6pm and 8pm tonight.

“Show some leadership and vote against the Prime Minister,” Keir Starmer urged Conservative MPs today. The Labour leader did muse that many in his party think a victory for Johnson this evening – with a damaged Prime Minister hanging on to lead the Tories into the next general election – would be a big plus for Labour. But Starmer insisted that Johnson must go “in the national interest”, adding: “We’ve got a cost-of-living crisis and [people] are saying where’s the plan, where’s the government we need to lead?”

There are a couple of problems with this analysis. First, that whatever comes next would necessarily be better – are we to believe that, should Johnson be replaced in the top job in Downing Street, his successor would be any better at (or concerned with) helping households facing spiralling inflation? Or, indeed, that Labour would be better placed to force any concessions out of the next Conservative leadership to the same end? If anything, the very reason the Tories made their beleaguered windfall tax U-turn (announced to coincide with the publication of the Sue Gray report) is rooted in the insecurity of the current administration. Second: replacing their leader now would give the Tories a chance to attempt a reset ahead of a future general election – and paint the culture of lying and law-breaking as a ‘Boris Johnson problem’, rather than a characteristic of the wider Conservative Party.

On LabourList this morning, we have some excellent contributions. Shadow minister Bambos Charalambous MP has a powerful piece on the Israeli occupation following his recent trip to Palestine. Lloyd Russell-Moyle MP has explained how, done right, the renters’ reform bill could “transform the lives of millions, giving them more security and dignity in their homes – but it won’t be done without a fight”. And Sonali Bhattacharyya and Lorcan Whitehead of the ‘Your Momentum’ slate in the Momentum leadership elections tell readers that the organisation has changed, but there is much more to do. Sign up to LabourList’s morning email for everything Labour, every weekday morning.