Labour to push for a vote of no confidence in Johnson’s government

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The Conservatives announced the timetable for the leadership election last night. Nominations for the contest open and close today. Hopefuls looking to replace Boris Johnson require nominations from 20 MPs to make it on to the ballot – something that many of the 11 declared candidates are going to struggle to do. Once on the ballot, they will have to secure 30 votes in the first round. The contest will be whittled down to two through a series of votes by Thursday. Tory Party members will then decide between the final two in a postal ballot before the result is announced on September 5th.

The timeframe set out by the 1922 committee of Conservative backbenchers means that Johnson will remain in Downing Street for the next eight weeks. This does not wash with Labour, whose leader has warned that the Prime Minister cannot be allowed to “cling on”. In the view of the opposition party,  he should be gone as quickly as possible. “The whole country realises that [Johnson] just has no integrity and honesty,” James Murray told Sky News this morning. “I just don’t think anyone feels comfortable with leaving Boris Johnson in a position as Prime Minister, particularly with summer – parliament doesn’t serve over summer so it’s very hard to keep scrutiny on what he’s doing.”

Labour is expected to put forward a motion of no-confidence in Johnson’s government today, pushing for a vote to take place on Wednesday after Prime Minister’s Questions. The motion would mean MPs from all parties are presented with the choice as to whether the government, under Johnson, should continue. It could theoretically trigger a general election, but the motion is certain to be defeated as Tory MPs are not going to vote with Labour. That is not why the motion has been tabled, however.

A Labour source told the Huff Post that the move will “put the squeeze on backbench Tories” – either they show themselves to be “hypocrites”, or “back Labour, admitting we were right”. And, more importantly, they added: “Do all those Tory leadership candidates really want to be answering that question next week? They know he needs to go.” Distancing themselves from their predecessor will be high on their agenda for whoever emerges victorious from the Conservative leadership election. This motion is just the start of Labour’s attempt to ensure that whoever comes next cannot wash their hands of the last administration.

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