Conservative MP says no confidence vote inevitable

A senior Conservative MP has said a vote of no confidence in Boris Johnson’s premiership is inevitable.

Tobias Ellwood, who has repeatedly urged Boris Johnson to resign, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that an increasing number backbenchers are “troubled” by No 10’s incumbent.

“It’s now when, not if, a vote of confidence takes place,” he argued. Ellwood, who chairs the Commons defence select committee, complained that the so-called ‘partygate’ scandal is “causing long term damage to the party’s brand”.

Yesterday evening he wrote via Twitter that his colleagues in the Commons should “stop drinking the Kool Aid”.

Ex government whip Mark Harper made similar comments on The Telegraph’s Chopper’s Politics podcast earlier today, suggesting he expected the number of letters submitted to the 1922 Committee to climb to the required no to trigger a vote over the next few months.