Update: Boris Johnson survived a no-confidence vote.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will face a vote on Monday that could end his tenure as Prime Minister, a downward spiral that began as a result of hosting booze-fueled parties during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
The no-confidence vote was triggered after a party leader said on Monday that he had received enough letters from Conservative Party lawmakers to hold a vote on the fate of Johnson’s leadership.
At least 54 Conservative MPs have submitted letters to Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbenchers, saying they have lost confidence in the Prime Minister.
The number represents 15% of Conservative MPs, which is the threshold at which a vote of no confidence is triggered.
“The threshold of 15% has been passed,” Member of Parliament Graham Brady said Monday.
Conservative MPs will now cast votes between 6 pm and 8 pm in London on whether they want Johnson to continue in his role or not.
Johnson could be replaced as leader of the Conservative Party.
He will be required to resign as prime minister of Britain if he receives a no-confidence vote from the majority of the 359 Conservative Party lawmakers.
The Prime Minister came under heavy scrutiny for his role in Britain’s “Partygate” scandal, in which multiple government officials attended parties hosted on government property during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a recently released report, at least 12 parties occurred at 10 Downing St. on eight separate days between May 2020 and April 2021.
Allies have rushed to his defense ahead of Monday’s vote.
Michael Gove, the minister in charge of Johnson’s community-based “Levelling Up” agenda, said in a post on Twitter that the Conservative Party needs to “move past this moment and unite behind Boris.”
I’ll be voting for Boris this evening. The PM got the big decisions right on Brexit and Covid. We need to focus now on defending Ukraine, driving levelling-up and generating growth. We need to move past this moment and unite behind Boris to meet these challenges
— Michael Gove (@michaelgove) June 6, 2022
However, he has staunch critics such as Jesse Norman, who has moved from long-time supporter to the prime minister’s outspoken critic.
“For you to prolong this charade by remaining in office not only insults the electorate … it makes a decisive change of government at the next election much more likely,” he wrote in a letter penned to Johnson.
John Penrose, the MP who oversees anti-corruption in Boris Johnson’s government, has piled yet more pressure on the Prime Minister by quitting his role and calling on Johnson to resign.
I’m sorry to have to resign as the PM’s Anti-Corruption Tsar but, after his reply last week about the Ministerial Code, it’s pretty clear he has broken it. That’s a resigning matter for me, and it should be for the PM too. Here’s my letter to him explaining why. pic.twitter.com/0Wi6QWsMbI
— John Penrose (@JohnPenroseNews) June 6, 2022
Johnson has served as Prime Minister since July of 2019. Previously he served as Britain’s foreign secretary and as the mayor of London.
