David Davis MP comments on further problems ahead for Prime Minister Boris Johnson
As published by the Daily Express:
BORIS Johnson has been warned the “problems keep coming” as ex-Brexit boss David Davis predicts the Prime Minister will be gone by Autumn.
David Davis warned the are further problems ahead for Boris Johnson who is facing increasing hostility from his own MPs, with Tory whips said to be discussing how to fight back if rebels trigger an all-important confidence vote. The former Brexit Secretary predicted letters of no confidence will reach their peak by autumn. Asked if Mr Johnson will be “gone by autumn this year”, Mr Davis said: “Yes I do and the reasons, in essence, are that the problems keep coming.
“There’s a pipeline of them, there are others to come down the road.
“There’s the PPE, there’s the investigation in London which comes back to him.
“There’s the most dangerous one of all from his point of view, is the Privileges Committee because if they judge that he has lied to the House deliberately, then that will lead us either he’ll resign or there will be a constitutional crisis.
“So there are a whole series of things coming but the thing is, every time you see these headlines of a flood of letters going in, a flood is two to three to four. It’s not 20 to 30 and they will gradually build up.
“The reason I said autumn is because it’s the last chance.
“The party, lots of members of the party will do sets of calculations, and I’m afraid this is terribly cynical but it’s the way it works.
“They’ll do lots of calculations about their own seats, about their prospects of staying in Government and keeping a job and all that sort of stuff and if, in the autumn, it still looks bleak – and it will I think, not so much care of Boris, as care of other aspects of policy.
“Then they’ll realise that’s their last chance because next year he could call an election at short notice.”
A steady stream of Tories have backed a ballot to decide the PM’s future, or called for Mr Johnson to step down, with three new names surfacing on Monday and a fourth MP resubmitting a letter of no confidence he previously withdrew in light of the Ukraine crisis.
The Telegraph reported that Conservative whips are now in talks about how to respond if the letter tally reaches 54, which would force 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady to call a vote.
All Tory MPs will be contacted at once if the threshold is reached, according to one whip, the newspaper said, as part of a move to save the PM’s job.
Conservative Andrew Bridgen emailed his North West Leicestershire constituents on Monday to say he has resubmitted his letter of no confidence in Mr Johnson following “further revelations over the past week”, which saw the publication of the long-awaited Sue Gray partygate report.
He originally submitted a letter in January 2022 but withdrew it in March, arguing it was not appropriate to hold a confidence vote amid the fighting in Ukraine.
Earlier, former attorney general Jeremy Wright said events in Downing Street had caused “real and lasting damage” to the Government’s authority and that he had concluded “with regret” that Mr Johnson should go.
A spokesman for Carshalton and Wallington MP Elliot Colburn, who was elected in 2019, confirmed he had submitted a letter of no confidence in the Prime Minister.
And a fourth Tory MP, Nickie Aiken, suggested Mr Johnson should submit himself to a confidence vote to end the “speculation” over his future.