It is supposed to be health week for the Conservative Government. A week of rolling out a number of health-related policy announcements.
Yet Boris Johnson today has been described as “walking wounded” and “bleeding” over Westminster as he faced a bruising confidence ballot last night.
Addressing his cabinet, Mr Johnson said it was time to “draw a line” under leadership plots as he wanted to focus on “dealing with the aftershocks of Covid” - issues “people want”.
But another flurry of red meat policies will not hide the fact that an astonishing 148 Conservative MPs wanted to kick him out of No10. They make up 41 per cent of his own party.
Last night, Mr Johnson spent almost an hour, trying to gear himself up to face the cameras after Sir Graham Brady announced the humiliating in the Commons.
“I’ve got many more MPs supporting me now than I had in 2019”, the PM claimed on public television.
That’s not correct. The reporter who interviewed him was quick to note that.
But Mr Johnson has managed to garner the support of a number of Tory MPs who tried to oust the former PM Theresa May in her 2018 vote of no confidence.
Mrs May survived her no confidence ballot but was forced out around six months later.
Not only has he achieved their support, but a number of them have flung themselves in front of television cameras despErate to try and save him.
Let’s take a look at these Tories who have changed their tune…..
D ominic Raab
The morning after the confidence vote, the Deputy Prime Minister said “there is no doubt” there are challenges the PM will need to overcome, but insisted the entire party now “needs to get behind” him.
“A lot of people will feel when you have the vote, you accept the result and then you move forward. That’s the democratic way,” he told GMB before adding, “That’s instinctively the right thing to do.”
But after Mrs May survived her vote of no confidence (VONC), Mr Raab said the scale of the opposition meant it is difficult for her to lead the Conservative party forward.
Justice Secretary Mr Raab was previously Brexit Secretary in Mrs May’s Government before he dramatically quit.
After the vote in 2018, Mr Raab said: “We will have to back her as best we can but problem is that both in relation to Brexit and wider sustainability of the government given likelihood of any changes to the deal, given the likely scale of opposition, it looks very difficult to see how this PM can lead us forward.”
Jacob Rees-Mogg
Hours before the ballots opened for Tories to vote for or against Mr Johnson, Mr Rees-Mogg waltzed around Westminster speaking to a number of broadcasters.
The Brexit Opportunities minister insisted he had not been forced to come out and back Mr Johnson, and if the PM won by one vote it would be “enough” for him to have a mandate to continue in his role.
“One is enough. That’s the rule in a democracy – if you win by one you win,” he told Sky News.
“It’s no good saying that the rules of the party say something and then behind it unofficially, there is some other rule that nobody knows and is invented for the purpose.”
But Mr Rees-Mogg said the complete opposite after Mrs May just about survived her own vote of no confidence.
He said in 2018: “I think we have a choice: Either she behaves like Margaret Thatcher ... or she behaves like John Major and leads the Conservative party to a terrible defeat. Those are the choices facing her and the party.”
He even added that he accepts the confidence vote result but she should meet the Queen and resign.
Hours before Mr Johnson knew of his fate, Mr Rees-Mog admitted he was mistaken for making those comments after Mrs May’s ballot.
“I was wrong on two grounds. One is that democracy requires that one is enough, and the other is that it was ungenerous.
“Somebody has won and I accepted that, that I think that I was mistaken in saying that there were secret, hidden rules. I don’t think there are, but of course then Theresa May then lost parliamentary votes and that was what led to her going rather than the vote of confidence.”
Peter Bone
Brexiteer Peter Bone has said Mr Johnson's no confidence ballot took place because of a “a few dissident backbench MPs", classing the result as a "massive" win for the PM.
He claimed last night: “The last time there was an election by MPs in the House of Commons on the leadership Boris Johnson only got 51 per cent of Conservative MPs voting for him, he got 60 per cent so he has improved his position relating to MPs.
“Obviously, two thirds of the party members voted for him in the subsequent poll and then of course he won a big general election victory so the only people that should be removing the Prime Minister of the Conservative Party is the electorate, and in two years time they will have that chance.
“I hope what we have done we will prove to the British public that we deserve another term."
But after Theresa May's vote, Mr Bone said: "How can she govern when she doesn't have a third of the party supporting her?"
