IN WHAT could be one of his final acts as Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has removed the Tory whip from one of his arch critics.
Tobias Ellwood will now sit as an independent.
The Prime Minister took the decision to kick the veteran MP out of the party because he refused to support the Government in Monday's vote of confidence.
Because he is no longer a Tory MP he will not be able to vote in the two remaining rounds of the leadership election.
Mr Ellwood is a supporter of Penny Mordaunt, who is currently fighting with Liz Truss for second place.
Though Mr Johnson has not said who he is backing in the race, a number of his allies are openly supporting Ms Truss.
Mr Ellwood said he had not voted last night as he was unable to travel back from a meeting with the president of Moldova because of the “unprecedented disruption”.
But a Tory source said: “Other Conservative MPs cancelled foreign trips, left poorly relatives and one MP’s mother died on the morning of the vote and still attended and voted.”
A spokeswoman for the Tory whips’ office said: “Tobias Ellwood MP has lost the Conservative Party whip following his failure to vote in support of the Government in the confidence vote last night.”
The government won the vote - which they tabled - by 349 votes to 238.
Mr Ellwood, who was first elected in 2005 as Conservative MP for Bournemouth East, said: “Following my meeting yesterday with the President of Moldova I was unable to secure return travel due to unprecedented disruption both here and in the UK.
“I am very sorry to lose the whip but will now continue my meetings in Ukraine promoting the Prime Minister’s efforts here and specifically seeking to secure the re-opening of Odesa port – so vital grain exports can recommence.”
Nadine Dorries, the Culture Secretary and ally of Mr Johnson, said suggestions that the Prime Minister was trying to remove a vote for Ms Mordaunt by stripping the whip from Mr Ellwood was “wholly untrue”.
She responded to such a claim on Twitter, saying: “This is wholly untrue and frankly utterly ridiculous.
“Every single MP of every party is under no illusion regarding the price to be paid in not voting during a Gov confidence motion. It’s a very clearly defined and historic red line.
“Tobias could have voted like everyone else.”
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