SCOTTISH LibDem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has penned a letter to the five Scottish Tory MPs – calling on them to submit letters of no confidence in the Prime Minister.
The move comes amid mounting pressure on Boris Johnson from backbench Conservative MPs as he prepares to face the House of Commons at Prime Minister’s questions this afternoon.
Mr Johnson is under pressure for his role in a series of lockdown-busting parties held at Downing Street while the UK was under tough restrictions.
The PM has admitted to attending one of the events in the Number 10 garden on May 20, 2020, but has called for his peers to view Sue Gray’s report into the events before any action is taken.
Yesterday, Mr Cole-Hamilton laid a motion at Holyrood, calling on MSPs to back a call of no confidence in Mr Johnson.
READ MORE: Holyrood call for Boris Johnson to quit puts Tory MSPs on the spot
Now, he has written to Tory MPs Andrew Bowie, David Duguid, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack, John Lamont and David Mundell, urging them to join other Conservative backbenchers in sending a letter of no confidence to Sir Graham Brady, who chairs the 1922 committee.
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross, who is an MSP and MP, has already publicly said that Mr Johnson should resign.
If Sir Graham receives 54 letters from Conservative MPs, a vote of no confidence will be triggered.
In his letter, Mr Cole-Hamilton wrote: “The British people have sacrificed a great deal over the course of the past two years with many postponing or cancelling significant life events, care home residents going months without family contact and loved ones dying alone in intensive care units.
“The revelation of sustained rule breaking by the Prime Minister and across Downing Street over the course of two lockdowns has badly eroded public trust and confidence in both the government and in the remaining public health measures.”
He added: “I’ve been out speaking to people in Conservative-held areas across Scotland. I know that your mailbag will be brimming with constituents asking you to do the right thing and remove this Prime Minister.
“I’ve met people in these areas and listened to the hardships they were enduring. They were educating their children at home. They were shielding. They were applauding the NHS from their doorstep. Now they know that all the while Number 10 broke the rules and partied.
“The country cannot take much more of this. Until there is a general election yours is the only way to remove this Prime Minister. Please take a stand without further delay.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel