In the wake of the Tory Partygate outrage, Michael Gove tried to defend Boris Johnson today, claiming that Downing Street leaders urged Sue Gray to reduce her findings.
Despite a trickle of Tory MPs quitting support, the key Cabinet minister who barred Mr Johnson from becoming Prime Minister in 2016 said he should ‘fight and win’ the next election.
Mr Gove said that “no one in Government has his enthusiasm, determination, or vision” as he pleaded for rebels to keep quiet.
Meanwhile, Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis has stated that a vote of confidence in Mr Johnson will not be held because it is ‘not in anyone’s best interests.’
The actions came as No10 denied pressuring Ms Gray, a prominent civil servant, to omit facts about her partying from her recent verdict.
The report depicted intoxicated employees singing karaoke, fighting, and puking in offices while the rest of the country was on lockdown.
However, it fell short of personally condemning the Prime Minister’s behavior, when police determined that a low-key birthday celebration in the Cabinet Room in June 2020 justified only a single fine.
Former minister Steve Brine yesterday joined MPs confirming he had submitted a letter of no confidence in Mr Johnson to 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady.
Mr Brine said of Partygate: ‘I have said throughout this sorry saga I cannot and will not defend the indefensible. Rule makers cannot be law-breakers.’
Newton Abbot MP Anne Marie Morris was also confirmed as one of the letter writers after revealing she has had the Tory whip restored, four months after it was removed for her support of an Opposition move to cut VAT on energy bills.
Former Minister Bob Neill has also called for Mr Johnson to quit saying: ‘It is in the national interest that the Conservatives win the next Election, but it requires a change of leader for us to do so.’
Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt, considered a potential future Tory leadership contender, condemned behaviour at No 10 as ‘shameful’, telling the Portsmouth News she was ‘angry’ that people blocking ‘reasonable requests to relax [Covid] restrictions, were at the same time ignoring the rules.’
Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tories, is obliged to order a confidence vote if he receives 54 letters demanding one.
More than 20 MPs have publicly stated that they no longer support Mr Johnson but the actual number of letter writers may be higher given it is a secret process. Sir Graham takes pride in never revealing how many letters he has received.
Mr Johnson’s allies suspect that the timing of the letters is being co-ordinated by supporters of former rival Jeremy Hunt.
Many rebels are waiting for the results of the crunch by-elections in Wakefield and in Tiverton and Honiton on June 23 before deciding whether to send letters of no confidence.
Yesterday, a poll suggested that if an Election was held now, the Tories would lose all but three of the 88 battleground seats they hold by a slim majority over Labour. Even Mr Johnson’s seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip would fall.