The Conservative MP, who organized the campaign to oust Theresa May, is running in party elections to prepare for a new impetus for the ouster of Boris Johnson.
Steve Baker hopes that the executive seat of the influential 1922 Committee on the Back Bench will allow him to change the rules to allow a new vote of no confidence – if necessary.
The serial rebel described the prime minister’s position as “intolerable” if he was found to have lied to parliament about the scandal with the No. 10 parties, many of which he attended.
He said: “If he does not resign in these circumstances, it may be necessary to take action to remove him. It is one thing to make a mistake inadvertently, but unbearably deliberately to deceive. ”
Mr Baker added: “We must not change the rules and vote lightly again. However, there are foreseeable circumstances in which 1922 may need to act.
The former head of the Brexit-based European Research Group also warned Johnson not to call early general elections to avoid resignation, an idea proposed by number 10.
“If the prime minister tries to avoid publishing the report of the Privileges Committee by calling a general election, it may require action,” he told The Times.
The Independent has revealed that the new 18-member chief executive will be elected on July 13th, sparking a battle between supporters and opponents of the prime minister.
The party’s rules currently prevent a second no-confidence vote within 12 months – which would mean until next June, after a severely injured Johnson won a vote earlier this month – but they can be changed.
Mr Baker played a key role in the events that forced Ms May to resign in 2019, bringing together tory MPs to continue to oppose her Brexit agreement in the final meaningful vote.
He told them he had been “engulfed in fierce anger after this pantomime of treachery and harassment”, describing attempts to force the back benches to line up.
The pressure on Mr Johnson is very different – he mainly focuses on his character and honesty shortcomings, not on a specific political confrontation – but it is still very real.
He fueled the anger of the Tories, rejecting calls for a change of style and insisting that much of the criticism of him “does not matter”, while proposing the idea of staying in power until 2030.
Senior lawmakers spoke after the prime minister mocked the idea of undergoing a “psychological transformation” to recover from the catastrophic defeats of the midterm elections, saying: “This will not happen.”
Only assholes can serve in the executive branch of the Committee since 1922 – and ministers and whips have no right to vote in elections.
Mr Baker said it should be “slow to change well-established rules that promote political stability, but to act quickly and decisively if it proves essential”, telling fellow Tories: “I hope to ensure this. “
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