PM to stage confidence vote in own govt to stave off Starmer's efforts to push him out

13 July 2022, 12:42 | Updated: 13 July 2022, 14:05

Boris Johnson has tabled his own motion to ask MPs whether they have confidence in the Government, accusing Labour of ‘playing politics’ by trying to force a vote to push him out of office earlier than September 5.

MPs were expected to debate and vote on the motion on Wednesday in a bid to force Mr Johnson’s immediate removal as Prime Minister – a move which could potentially lead to a snap election.

However, it was reported that Downing Street told the opposition party that they would not be given the time in the House of Commons for the debate and vote.

Labour claimed the move was "unprecedented", accusing the caretaker PM of an "abuse of power".

“Labour were given the option to table a straightforward vote of no confidence in the Government in keeping with contention, however they chose not to," said a spokesperson for the Government.

“To remedy this we are tabling a motion which gives the House the opportunity to decide if it has confidence in the Government.

“The Government will always allow time for appropriate House matters whilst ensuring that it delivers parliamentary business to help improve people’s everyday lives.”

It comes amid the Tory leadership race, which will see the first person get knocked out at 5pm today.

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Eight contenders got through to the first ballot round, which requires them to secure at least 30 supporters to move forward.

Boris Johnson's successor will be confirmed on September 5, and he will formally resign to the Queen and leave Downing Street the following day.

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The confidence vote will take place on Monday, but only giving MPs the opportunity to express confidence in the Government and not Mr Johnson.

He will open the debate ahead of the vote, the PM's press secretary confirmed.

She insisted Labour's own motion, which included the Commons not having confidence in the Prime Minister was "not good use of parliamentary time".

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The failure to win the confidence of the Commons could trigger a general election.

While it is unlikely Tories would bring down their own Government now that a leadership race is under way, Labour had been trying to put MPs on record for their support of Mr Johnson.

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The opposition branded Mr Johnson's latest decision to run his own confidence motion as "bizarre".

It said the only reason for the Government tabling it was because it feared losing a vote on the original wording proposed.

A Labour spokesman said: "The motion that we tabled was in order, the clerks ruled it in order, we had precedent based on the 1965 vote of no confidence there was with Ted Heath and Harold Wilson.

"If the Government wants to table a different motion, that's obviously up to them.

"But what's clear is that the Government was concerned it would lose the vote on the motion that we had put forward, otherwise why are they putting forward this alternative motion on Monday?

"We look forward to the dozens of Conservative MPs who have already expressed no confidence in Boris Johnson in writing to vote accordingly next week because to do anything else would be brazen hypocrisy."

Labour could try to amend the motion to reflect the Opposition's original wording, which expressed no confidence in both the Government and Boris Johnson.