Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles.
One app.

Start reading

Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles. One news app.

Start reading

Daily Mirror

Politics

Dan Bloom

Boris Johnson strips Tory whip from one of his biggest critics over confidence vote

Boris Johnson Tobias Ellwood Sir Keir Starmer Brexit Andy Bailey Liz Truss Moldova European Union

Vengeful Boris Johnson today stripped the Tory whip from one of his biggest critics after he failed to support the government in a confidence vote.

Moderate Penny Mordaunt backer Tobias Ellwood will now be unable to vote in today’s crucial leadership ballot - where right-wingers are battling to get Liz Truss ahead of Ms Mordaunt.

A Tory source said: “We’re in banana republic territory if they’ve worked out they can stop everyone else voting and just keep the Liz people in”.

Senior MP Mr Ellwood - one of the first to call for the PM to quit - was one of 12 Tory MPs and 16 Labour MPs who did not vote last night in a motion of confidence in Boris Johnson ’s government.

However, most are thought to have had excuses for not voting from the whips.

Despite the fact he was on a trip to Moldova - 100 miles from the besieged Ukrainian port of Odesa - Tory sources suggested Mr Ellwood should have cancelled his trip.

Boris Johnson was significantly quicker to strip the whip from Mr Ellwood than from Chris Pincher, after the Deputy Chief Whip was accused of groping two men.

Boris Johnson speaking during yesterday's debate ahead of a confidence vote (AFP via Getty Images)

Lib Dem Chief Whip Wendy Chamberlain said: “It is telling that Boris Johnson acted swiftly to punish Tobias Ellwood this time, but dragged his feet for days when it came to suspending the whip from his loyal supporter Chris Pincher.

“This petty act shows there is no room in the Conservatives any more for those who refuse to prop up Johnson.”

It’s understood all “slips” were rescinded, while those who were ill or on a trip on behalf of the government were paired. Whips regarded Mr Ellwood’s as a personal trip so refused to pair him.

A source told The Times Mr Ellwood was “reminded of the consequences well in advance of the vote” adding: “Other Conservative MPs cancelled foreign trips, left poorly relatives and one MP’s mother died on the morning of the vote - and still attended and voted.

A spokeswoman for the Tory Whips Office confirmed: "Tobias Ellwood MP has lost the Conservative Party whip following his failure to vote in support of the Government in the confidence vote last night.''

Tobias Ellwood said he was "very sorry" to lose the Tory whip but argued he was unable to return from a meeting with the president of Moldova due to "unprecedented disruption".

In a statement, the senior MP said: "Following my meeting yesterday with the president of Moldova I was unable to secure return travel due to unprecedented disruption both here and in the UK.

"I am very sorry to lose the whip but will now continue my meetings in Ukraine promoting the Prime Minister's efforts here and specifically seeking to secure the reopening of Odesa port - so vital grain exports can recommence."

Mr Ellwood confirmed publicly that he was abroad hours before last night's vote. He tweeted: “In Chisinau, MOLDOVA meeting the impressive President Maia Sandu. Odesa’s just 100 miles away. After Donbas - Russia’s expected to head West and if Odessa falls Moldova could easily be next.

“NATO must learn from Ukraine and not leave it too late this time."

Nadine Dorries, the Culture Secretary and ally of Boris Johnson, said suggestions that the Prime Minister was trying to remove a vote for Penny Mordaunt by stripping the whip from Tobias Ellwood was "wholly untrue".

She responded to such a claim on Twitter, saying: "This is wholly untrue and frankly utterly ridiculous.

"Every single MP of every party is under no illusion regarding the price to be paid in not voting during a Gov confidence motion. It's a very clearly defined and historic red line.

"Tobias could have voted like everyone else."

It comes after Tory MPs last night passed a motion of confidence in Boris Johnson’s government - 10 days after ousting him.

Shameless Conservatives united around the PM after a bitter five-hour debate - that heard claims of corruption and tolerance of sexual assault in government.

The PM announced he will resign after more than 50 of his ministers quit in protest at his handling of allegations against his Deputy Chief Whip. But he has refused Labour's calls to step down sooner than the planned date of September 6.

Last night he took a no-confidence motion - originally proposed by Labour and mentioning him by name, but blocked in that form - and used it as a bid to unite his party.

MPs voted 349-238 to have confidence in the government, without mentioning the PM by name.

If the vote had passed, convention suggests the government would have had to resign or the PM would have had to seek an election.

Keir Starmer branded the Prime Minister a “vengeful squatter” after the PM gave a rambling 44-minute address to MPs (ANDY BAILEY/UK PARLIAMENT/UNPIXS)

The PM suggested - without evidence - that Labour’s leader was working with the “deep state” to reverse Brexit (ANDY BAILEY/UK PARLIAMENT/UNPIXS)

Backing the motion were 342 Tories, six DUP MPs and independent ex-Tory Rob Roberts. Against it were 183 Labour MPs, 37 SNP, 12 Lib Dems, and smaller groups including Plaid Cymru and Green MP Caroline Lucas.

Opening the debate yesterday, Boris Johnson falsely boasted he had “delivered on every single promise” as PM.

Keir Starmer branded the Prime Minister a “vengeful squatter” after the PM gave a rambling 44-minute address to MPs - his last major one at the dispatch box before he quits on September 6.

At one point he suggested - without evidence - that Labour’s leader was working with the “deep state” to reverse Brexit and take the UK back into the EU. Keir Starmer has said he will not reverse Brexit.

The “deep state” is a conspiracy theory that claims the organs of the state are populated by secret networks of people working for their own ends.

At another point, he said: “They constantly say we’re not going to build 40 new hospitals, well I can tell him we are”. The total includes redevelopments and new wings at existing hospitals.

And at another he said: "We got Brexit done and though the rejoiners and the revengers were left plotting and planning and biding their time - and I'll have more to say about the events of the last few weeks and months in due course - we delivered on every single one of our promises.”

Manifesto pledges to keep the pensions triple lock, not raise National Insurance, and keep up foreign aid spending were all broken - to name only three.

Brexit negotiations are also not finished, with Britain moving to tear up the Northern Ireland protocol - part of the deal Boris Johnson co-wrote with the EU and signed.

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said the PM’s speech was “as delusional as the Transport Secretary’s leadership bid - but sadly not as brief.”

She added: “He claimed the Deep State were plotting against him. Even now he cannot take responsibility or face reality - inspired not by Churchill or Thatcher… but by Trump.”