Tory MPs turn on Boris

More trouble for Boris Johnson this evening. In a meeting of the backbench 1922 committee he came under fire for expelling 21 Tory rebel MPs last night. It got worse.

Former cabinet minister Damian Green MP, chair of the group, wrote that the “purge” of “moderates” was wrong in principle and bad practical politics. He said: “We are now calling upon the PM to reinstate the Party whip to these colleagues.”

Earlier, during his first PMQs Johnson was not met with the usual cheer from his benches, customary for a new prime minister. Instead his cabinet were morose and tense – a far cry from the swashbuckling confidence they had in their first few weeks in post.

Adding insult to injury, former prime minister Theresa May looked incongruous on the back benches, sat between two MPs who were sacked last night – Ken Clarke and Antoinette Sandbach – seemingly enjoying the saga of Johnson floundering at the dispatch box.

Johnson had attempted to regain control of the situation, putting forward a motion to hold an early election on 15th October to the Commons just moments after MPs passed a bill to block a no deal Brexit. The bill demands Boris Johnson to seek an extension to Article 50 beyond the 31st October deadline in lieu of striking a deal with the EU.

The PM requires a 2/3rds majority of MPs to secure an election. But Labour, the SNP and the Liberal Democrats have all said they won’t support his bid – as they are concerned that Johnson might alter the election date allowing the UK to crash out with no deal on 31st October anyway.

It has been a historically bad start for the new prime minister – who became the first PM in history to lose his first two consecutive votes in parliament. On Tuesday evening, MPs voted by a majority of 27 to take control of the parliamentary agenda – prompting the government to expel 21 members of its own party for defying the whip. He lost again today 329 to 300 on the bill itself.

There was widespread Tory unease today at Westminster over the decision to effectively expel those 21 Tory MPs who rebelled against the government last night. The threats, designed to deter MPs from defying the government, backfired and strengthened the resolve of those anti-no deal Conservatives willing to sink their party’s majority in protest of no deal. Among the rebels was the father of the House and former Chancellor Ken Clarke, as well as many former cabinet ministers.

The full list of rebels who are now former Tory MPs is:

Philip Hammond (former Chancellor)

David Gauke (former Justice Secretary)

Dominic Grieve (former Attorney General)

Ken Clarke (father of the House and former Chancellor)

Sir Oliver Letwin (former Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster)

Justine Greening (former Education Secretary)

Rory Stewart (former International Development Secretary and recent leadership candidate)

Greg Clarke (former Business Secretary)

Sam Gyimah (former universities minister)

Antoinette Sandbach

Alistar Burt (former Middle East minister)

Stephen Hammond (former health minister)

Sir Nicholas Soames (former defence minister)

Margot James (former digital minister)

Richard Harrington (former business minister)

Guto Bebb (former defence minister)

Caroline Nokes (former PPS at Department for Work and Pensions)

Ed Vaizey (former culture minister)

Steve Brine (former health minister)

Anne Milton (former minister for women)

Richard Benyon (former fisheries minister)

All of the above MPs have been stripped of the Conservative whip and currently sit as independent MPs. Former party chairman Caroline Spelman voted alongside the rebels against the government today – but No 10 says that she will not have the whip removed.

Now, the opposition parties technically have the numbers to form their own government if they choose to – although that looks extremely unlikely. If they decided to vote together they would outnumber the Tories and the DUP by 22 votes, 320-298. But, last week Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson made clear she could not countenance a government which put Jeremy Corbyn at the helm – so such an alliance remains unlikely.

If Boris Johnson loses the vote to hold a new election – and all signs point to that – it is unclear where he goes next. He is stuck, having paved his way to No 10 on the promise of taking the UK out of the EU on 31st October “come what may.”