Boris Johnson no confidence vote: Where Dorset MPs stand

The veteran Conservative said his party colleagues who had put in letters to Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, were “behaving like headless chickens”.

Mr Johnson will face a vote of no confidence by Tory MPs on Monday evening as frustrations over the lockdown-busting parties in No 10 and the direction of the Prime Minister’s leadership reached a tipping point.

This morning Sir Graham announced he had received 54 letters from Conservative MPs needed to trigger the ballot.

The vote – by secret ballot – will take place at Westminster on Monday between 6pm and 8pm, with the count to take place immediately afterwards.

• Read more: Boris Johnson to face leadership vote today

Sir Christopher told the Daily Echo: “After the unalloyed joy of the jubilee, it is disappointing some of my party colleagues are behaving like headless chickens.

“I hope the vast majority will show their confidence in our Prime Minister and hopefully put this distraction behind us.”

He added: “I am expressly going to be voting to show my confidence.”

Asked about those who had put in letters of no confidence, Sir Christopher said: “These are people who in my view are rather than selfless, like Her Majesty, they are self-indulgent.

“There is a mixture of motives but what they all have in common is they are ignoring the fact that our Prime Minister won a general election with a very large majority and as the local elections showed there are some areas of the country where he is still the top dog and other areas where he is having a big of bumpy journey.

“The last thing the Conservative Party should be doing is panicking and that is what seems to be happening.

“In my opinion they are doing it for their own interests and putting themselves ahead of the party and the national interest.”

Bournemouth West MP Conor Burns, a close ally of Boris Johnson, has expressed his support for the Prime Minister in a post on social media.

Mr Burns, Minister of State for Northern Ireland, said: “I will vote to support Boris tonight. I watched how broken our politics became in 2019 and was convinced only he could fix it.

“Having won the biggest mandate of any Tory leader since Lady T and got the big calls right he commands support. The people should be his judge.”

I will vote to support Boris tonight. I watched how broken our politics became in 2019 and was convinced only he could fix it. Having won the biggest mandate of any Tory Leader since Lady T and got the big calls right he commands support. The people should be his judge.

— Conor Burns (@ConorBurnsUK) June 6, 2022

• Read more: Close Boris Johnson ally Conor Burns on vote of no confidence in Prime Minister

Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood already nails his colours to the mast in wanting a change of leadership.

Tobias Ellwood, MP for Bournemouth East (Image: Newsquest)

He put a vote of no confidence letter in several months ago and was critical of the Prime Minister in the House of Commons following the publication of Sue Gray’s report into lockdown events in Number 10 Downing Street.

• Read more: Who could replace Boris Johnson if he loses no confidence vote?

Two weeks ago, Poole MP Sir Robert Syms said he would need “a lot of convincing” from the Prime Minister if was to support Mr Johnson in a vote of no confidence.

In a post on Twitter, North Dorset MP Simon Hoare said party colleague Jesse Norman was right in his letter of no confidence that warned the Prime Minister breaching the Northern Ireland Protocol would be “economically very damaging, politically foolhardy and almost certainly illegal”.

There has been no social media messages of support yet from Mid Dorset and North Poole MP Michael Tomlinson, who is currently a whip for the Conservative Government.