Boris Johnson will stage a vote of no confidence in his own government – in a “strange” twist to the row over Labor being denied House of Commons confrontational time.
The Prime Minister was accused of “abuse of power” after breaking parliamentary convention by refusing the vote scheduled for Wednesday, accusing Labor of “playing politics”.
The vote will take place on Monday but will only give MPs a chance to express confidence in the government rather than Mr Johnson himself, a move which a Labor source described as “strange”.
A government spokesman accused Keir Starmer of breaking convention by making the prime minister the target of the vote – a claim rejected by experts.
“To correct this, we are introducing a motion that gives the House the opportunity to decide whether it has confidence in the government,” it said in a statement.
Labor accused the government of being “freaked out” when its vote of confidence in Mr Johnson was refused on Tuesday, saying: “This is completely unprecedented”.
Erskine May, The Parliamentary Bible. It states that “by established convention” the government “always agrees to the Leader of the Opposition’s request”.
It was highly unlikely that enough Tory rebels would be found to win the vote – but it would have embarrassed Tory MPs who voted to keep Johnson in office for now.
The government argued the vote was a waste of parliamentary time as the prime minister had “already resigned” despite remaining in No 10.
Sir Keir’s spokesman said it would be “blatant hypocrisy” for Tory MPs to call on Mr Johnson to go immediately to support the government next week – in a debate Mr Johnson will lead.
The row erupted after Mr Johnson sparked speculation he would skip Prime Minister’s Questions next week – making today’s confrontation his last.
The funeral of slain former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected in the middle of next week. Mr Johnson’s political spokesman said he had “no plans” to attend.
“As it stands, the Prime Minister will answer Prime Minister’s Questions next week,” the spokeswoman said.
Downing Street also revealed that Mr Johnson will leave Number 10 on September 6, a day after his successor is announced following a vote by Tory MPs.
His political spokeswoman also denied the widespread belief that he was working behind the scenes to try to prevent former chancellor Rishi Sunak from taking the crown.
Eyebrows were raised when Nadine Dorris and Jacob Rees-Mogg turned up at the door of Number 10 to support Liz Truss – a leading candidate for ‘Stop Sunak’.
“We do not enter into leadership talks. We remain neutral in this process,” the spokeswoman said.
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