Senior Tory MP Sir Bob Neill has submitted a letter of no confidence in Boris Johnson’s leadership as the number of Conservatives calling for the prime minister to go ramps up after the Sue Gray report.
Sir Bob, who chairs the Justice Select Committee, said Ms Gray’s report into lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street has “highlighted a pattern of wholly unacceptable behaviour” by some working in Number 10.
“I have listened carefully to the explanations the prime minister has given, in parliament and elsewhere, and regrettably, do not find his assertions to be credible,” the former lawyer wrote on Friday afternoon.
“That is why, with a heavy heart, I submitted a letter of no confidence to Sir Graham Brady on Wednesday afternoon.”
The only person who knows how many MPs have submitted a letter is Sir Graham, chair of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs.
However, Sky News has counted 22 MPs – including Sir Bob – publicly calling for Mr Johnson to quit since the Sue Gray report was released on Wednesday.
Just before Sir Bob revealed he had put a letter in, Alicia Kearns, MP for Rutland and Melton, said Mr Johnson “continues not to hold my confidence”, but did not reveal if she had sent a letter.
Earlier on Friday, Tory MP Paul Holmes quit his role as a parliamentary private secretary at the Home Office, saying a “deep mistrust in both the government and the Conservative party” had been created by the events.
Mr Holmes said a “toxic culture… seemed to have permeated Number 10”.
