Johnson Begs Backbenchers to Back Him in No-Confidence Ballot
14:48 GMT 06.06.2022 (Updated: 15:19 GMT 28.05.2023)
© Jonathan BradyBritain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie Johnson during the Platinum Jubilee Pageant outside Buckingham Palace
© Jonathan Brady
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PM Boris Johnson's letter to MPs made a classic divide-and-rule play to split off the hard-line conservatives and pro-Brexit MPs from the core of ardent Remainers who have always opposed his leadership.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has written to Tory MPs to canvass support for this evening's vote on his leadership.
Johnson's letter to backbenchers, appealing to their sense of party unity, was leaked to political gossip website Guido Fawkes on Monday morning.
"Tonight we have a chance to end weeks of media speculation and take this country forward, immediately, as one united party," Johnson wrote. "Tonight is the moment to draw a line under the issues our opponents want us to talk about."
The letter came just hours after Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the powerful backbench 1922 Committee, announced that the crucial threshold of 15 per cent of Tory MPs demanding Johnson face a no-confidence vote had been reached, following months of allegations over staff partying at Downing Street.
Johnson harked back to the Conservatives' landslide victory in the December 2019 general election under his leadership with the promise to "get Brexit done".
The PM also lauded the government's roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines ahead of the European Union, and the correspondingly early end to lockdown restrictions and return to relative economic normality. And he boasted that the UK had led Europe in support for Ukraine since the launch of the Russian special military operation, while striking the controversial deal to settle illegally-trafficked asylum-seekers in Rwanda.
"I say all this not because I want to take satisfaction in past achievements, but because now is the time to concentrate every ounce of that same energy and drive on the priorities of the British people," Johnson wrote.
In a clear appeal to the restive traditional and Eurosceptic wings of his party, the PM said he and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak would set out how they would use "Conservative principles to take advantage of our new freedoms, cut costs, and drive growth."
"We also know that you cannot just spend your way out of inflation, and you cannot tax your way into growth," Johnson stressed.
Many of Johnson's most vocal critics are those who opposed leaving the European Union, including Parliamentary Defence Select Committee chairman Tobias Ellwood and Winchester MP Steve Brine.
But among the 54 MPs who wrote to Brady are Steve Baker, chairman of the Pro-Brexit European Research Group of some 70 MPs, and Mark Harper, chair of the closely-linked COVID Recovery Group that opposed many lockdown measures. They and their allies may be the prime targets of Johnson's bid to woo back support.
Lichfield MP and Johnson loyalist Michael Fabricant tweeted out a list, circulated to MPs by party chiefs, of reasons to support Johnson.
© @Mike_Fabricant/TwitterTweet by Conservative MP Michael Fabricant of a list of reasons to support Prime Minister Boris Johnson
Tweet by Conservative MP Michael Fabricant of a list of reasons to support Prime Minister Boris Johnson
But fellow backbencher Jeremy Hunt, who Johnson soundly defeated in the 2019 party leadership contest, came out against the PM.
"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," Hunt tweeted. "And because we are no longer trusted by the electorate, who know this too, we are set to lose the next general election."