THE MP for Reading West has pledged his support to the prime minister after Conservative MPs triggered a vote of confidence in Boris Johnson’s leadership.
On Monday, June 6, Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs, confirmed that 54 letters had been received asking for the vote.
As a result, a vote on the prime minister’s leadership will be held from 6pm to 8pm tonight.
Alok Sharma was quick to support the prime minister after the news broke, tweeting: “Boris Johnson has my full support and I urge Conservatives MPs to vote for him today.
“He delivered a historic win in 2019, has provided strong leadership through the pandemic supporting jobs & businesses and is leading the international response on Ukraine.
“#BackBoris.”
A spokesperson for Downing Street has said the prime minister “welcomes the opportunity to make his case to MPs” adding that he sees it as “a chance to end months of speculation”.
If Mr Johnson loses the vote, he will be forced to stand down as prime minister and a leadership election will take place with him barred from entering.
For this to happen, at least 180 Conservative MPs – a majority – will have to vote against him this evening.
If Mr Johnson wins, he will remain as leader and be immune from another no confidence vote for a year.
Sir Graham confirmed the votes will be counted immediately after they have been cast and an announcement will be made “at a time to be advised”.
In recent years, Margaret Thatcher, John Major and Theresa May have all won confidence votes but went on to lose their position.
Margaret Thatcher resigned after eight days of winning the vote and Theresa May did the same within six months.
John Major went on to lose to Tony Blair at the next general election.
