Boris Johnson reminds Tory MPs of sweeping electoral victory under his leadership ahead of confidence vote | Politics News

Boris Johnson has reminded Tory MPs that the Conservatives have won their biggest election in 40 years under his leadership.

The Prime minister was greeted with the traditional pounding of the table as he addressed a private meeting in Westminster ahead of the vote of confidence on Monday night.

Mr Johnson warned MPs against “getting involved in some hellish Groundhog Day debate” about the merits of belonging to the European Union’s single market and rekindling old Brexit rows.

PM greeted with ‘clap and bang’ by Tory MPs – follow latest updates

He reminded them of the “incredible force we can be when we unite” and said the party won its biggest electoral victory in 40 years under his leadership, when he won the election. won a majority of 80 seats in the 2019 general election.

“The people in this room have won the biggest election victory for the Conservative Party in 40 years under my leadership,” he said.

It comes ahead of a vote of confidence that will take place between 6pm and 8pm tonight in the House of Commons, with results expected about an hour after the vote closes.

The vote represents the biggest threat to Mr Johnson’s leadership to date.

Ahead of the meeting, Mr Johnson sent MPs a letter in which he said he had “under a lot of fire” in recent months about the party and acknowledged “some criticism that is perhaps fair”. , a few less”.

But he said the vote of confidence was a “golden opportunity to put this behind us”, adding: “With your support, I believe that tonight we have a big prize in our hearts.” reach”.

“We can put an end to the media’s favorite obsession. We can go on without fuss,” he wrote after noting the rollout of a COVID vaccine, low unemployment , helping Ukraine and bringing migrants to Rwanda are his successes.

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It came after it was confirmed that at least 54 MPs – 15% of Tory MPs – had written to the chairman of the 1922 Tory Opponents Committee, Sir Graham Brady, calling for an unspecified vote. confidence in Mr. Johnson.

Sir Graham said he informed the prime minister on Sunday that the threshold had been reached and that they had mutually agreed on a time for the vote on Monday evening.

For the prime minister to be ousted, half of Tory’s MPs plus one would have to vote against him, currently 180 MPs.

The letters to the 1922 Committee came after mounting pressure on the prime minister over party members disclosing lockdown events in Downing Street and Whitehall, for which Mr Johnson was fined once.

There has been a flurry of Conservative MPs calling on Mr Johnson to continue publishing Sue Gray’s damning report into partisanship.

A quick YouGov poll on Monday showed 60% of Britons think Tory MPs should vote to remove Mr Johnson as leader, while 32% of Conservative voters want him gone. About 50% of Conservative voters think holding a no-confidence vote for him is right, while 40% think it is wrong.