Tory MPs ready to force confi dence vote once Gray report published

More Conservative MPs are poised to send letters of no confidence in Boris Johnson when the long-awaited “partygate” report is published, amid pressure on the prime minister from his supporters to oversee a complete clearout of No 10.

- Jessica Elgot Aubrey Allegretti

The Guardian has learned that senior backbenchers will move as a collective to force a no-confidence vote in Johnson once the senior civil servant Sue Gray has release d her findings, which helped trigger a criminal inquiry on Tuesday.

New MPs wounded by the publicising of the so-called pork pie plot are understood to have remonstrated with more senior colleagues for leaving them exposed. But a consensus has now formed among more experienced MPs that Johnson should face a no-confidence vote. “It’s the white, middle-aged backbencher he has to watch,” one MP said. “People who feel strongly about their morals and to whom this prime minister can’t offer anything personally.”

Among those who are prepared to move against Johnson are more than two dozen former ministers – there are more than 70 in that category in total – according to the rebels’ latest calculations.

There will be no group statement from the One Nation group of centrist Tories, which has more than 100 members. Instead, MPs said letters were more likely to come from smaller groups of like-minded MPs moving together.