Former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt has made clear he will vote to remove Boris Johnson as Conservative leader, declaring: “Today’s decision is change or lose. I will be voting for change.”
Mr Hunt is expected to be a leading contender in the battle to succeed Mr Johnson as prime minister if he is ousted in the confidence vote by Tory MPs this evening.
His comment was met by a ferocious backlash from Johnson loyalist Nadine Dorries, who accused him of "duplicity" and said that pandemic preparedness during his tenure as health secretary was "inadequate".
Mr Hunt is the most senior Tory to call for Johnson’s removal, and his intervention will give heart to rebels who have so far had no potential replacement to rally around.
However, his record as a Remainer makes him an unlikely victor in a leadership vote of Conservative members, who chose Johnson over Hunt by 66 to 34 per cent in 2019.
In a statement on Twitter shortly after the announcement of today’s vote of no confidence, Mr Hunt wrote: “The Conservative Party must now decide if it wishes to change its leader. Because of the situation in Ukraine this was not a debate I wanted to have now but under our rules we must do that.
“Having been trusted with power, Conservative MPs know in our hearts we are not giving the British people the leadership they deserve. We are not offering the integrity, competence and vision necessary to unleash the enormous potential of our country.
“And because we are no longer trusted by the electorate, who know this too, we are set to lose the next general election.
“Anyone who believes our country is stronger, fairer and more prosperous when led by Conservatives should reflect that the consequence of not changing will be to hand the country to others who do not share those values.
“Today’s decision is change or lose. I will be voting for change.”
In a furious response on Twitter, culture secretary Ms Dorries claimed that Mr Hunt “would have handed the keys of No10 to Corbyn” if he had won the leadership election in 2019.
In an effective admission that the Conservative government had failed to get the UK ready for the Covid outbreak, she told Mr Hunt: “You’ve been wrong about almost everything, you are wrong again now.
“Your pandemic preparation during six years as health secretary was found wanting and inadequate. Your duplicity right now in destabilising the party and country to serve your own personal ambition, more so.”
