Labour accuses government of “running scared” as no-confidence vote blocked

Labour has accused the government of “running scared” after Conservative ministers blocked a no-confidence motion, which could have seen Boris Johnson removed from office, tabled by the Labour Party earlier today.

MPs had been expected to take part in the confidence vote on Wednesday, after Keir Starmer confirmed today that Labour would table the motion. But ministers have disregarded long-standing convention, which dictates that the government designate time to no-confidence motions, to block the move by Labour.

A Labour spokesperson said: “This clapped-out government is running scared and refusing to allow time to debate Labour’s vote of no confidence motion.

“This is totally unprecedented. Yet again the Tories are changing the rules to protect their own dodgy mates. All the Tory leadership candidates should denounce this flagrant abuse of power to protect a discredited Prime Minister.”

Labour announced that it would push for a vote of no confidence after the 1922 committee of backbench Conservative MPs set out a timetable for the Conservative leadership election that will see Johnson remain in Downing Street until September.

MPs from all parties would have voted on the motion, which was set to be held after Prime Minister Questions. If passed, it could have triggered an election, although it had been expected to fail without significant Tory support.

Keir Starmer argued earlier this afternoon that the Conservative Party cannot expect the country to allow Johnson to “cling on for weeks on end” after Tory MPs “concluded that Boris Johnson was unfit to be Prime Minister”.

The move by ministers to block the motion was unexpected as it represents a major break with convention. The last time Labour brought such a motion, during Theresa May’s premiership in 2019, the vote was held the next day.

Johnson triggered a Conservative leadership election when he announced that he would stand down last week. The timetable for the leadership election was confirmed on Monday evening, with the final result expected on September 5th.

Nominations for the contest have opened, and close at 6pm today. Candidates require nominations from 20 MPs to make it on to the ballot. Once on the ballot, they will have to secure 30 votes in the first round of voting from MPs.

Six candidates have secured a place on the ballot so far. The list of candidates will be whittled down to two through a series of further votes from MPs by Thursday. Tory Party members will then decide between the final two in a postal ballot.

The decision by Johndon to stand down came after the Prime Minister saw more than 50 Tory ministers resign from his frontbench team, following the initial resignations of the then Health Secretary Sajid Javid and Chancellor Rishi Sunak.