Boris Johnson to face confidence vote

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is going to face a vote of confidence among Conservative MPs tonight after weeks of speculation about his leadership following the 'Partygate' scandal into lockdown breaches in and around Downing Street.

Chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbenchers, Sir Graham Brady, has confirmed the number of letters of no confidence has passed the threshold of 54.

The Prime Minister needs to win a majority in a vote of all Conservative MPs and the rules state there cannot be another vote for a year.

Sir Graham Brady told reporters in Westminster that Boris Johnson was informed last night that the threshold to trigger a vote had been reached.

He said some colleagues had post-dated their letters until after the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

He told reporters in Westminster: "I notified the Prime Minister yesterday that the threshold had been reached.

"We agreed the timetable for the confidence vote to take place and he shared my view - which is also in line with the rules that we have in place - that that vote should happen as soon as could reasonably take place and that would be today."

Cabinet ministers pledge support

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss tweeted: "The Prime Minister has my 100% backing in today's vote and I strongly encourage colleagues to support him.

"He has delivered on Covid recovery and supporting Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression. He has apologised for mistakes made. We must now focus on economic growth."

Fresh letters this morning

Jesse Norman has become the latest Tory MP to announce that he has submitted a letter to Sir Graham Brady calling for a confidence vote in Boris Johnson.

In a letter to the Prime Minister posted on social media, Mr Norman, the MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire, said Mr Johnson had presided over "a culture of casual law-breaking" in No 10 and that his claim to be vindicated by the Sue Gray report was "grotesque".

Tory fears about their leader's standing among the public were also likely to have been further fuelled by polling carried out ahead of the Wakefield by-election by JL Partners.

Jubilee boos

Mr Johnson also faced public backlash during the Platinum Jubilee bank holiday weekend, including being booed on Friday by some sections of a crowd during his arrival at a thanksgiving service for the Queen at St Paul's Cathedral.

The survey found the Conservatives could lose the key battleground seat, which was one of tens of constituencies Mr Johnson took from Labour in the so-called Red Wall during his 2019 landslide general election win, by as much as 20 points to Sir Keir Starmer's party this month.

With the Tiverton and Honiton by-election due to be held on the same day, June 23, as Wakefield, Mr Johnson faces the prospect of losing seats to Labour in the north of England and the Liberal Democrats in the South West.

The by-elections will be the first electoral test for the governing party since senior civil servant Sue Gray's investigation into coronavirus rule-breaching events in No 10 and Whitehall was published last month.

Ms Gray laid bare the details of raucous parties while also finding that the Prime Minister had attended a number of leaving dos for aides, giving speeches and joining in the drinking of alcohol, despite at the same time telling the public not to see sick and dying loved ones in a bid to stop the spread of the virus.

More reaction follows...

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• Boris Johnson