Jeremy Hunt (South West Surrey, elected in 2005)
On the morning of Monday 6 June, Hunt called for Tory MPs to remove Boris Johnson as Conservative leader in the vote of confidence that evening. He tweeted: “Anyone who believes our country is stronger, fairer & more prosperous when led by Conservatives should reflect that the consequence of not changing will be to hand the country to others who do not share those values. Today’s decision is change or lose. I will be voting for change.”
John Penrose (Weston-super-Mare, elected in 2005)
Penrose resigned as Johnson’s anti-corruption champion on Monday morning. He released a statement on Twitter: “I’m sorry to have to resign as the PM’s Anti-Corruption Tsar but, after his reply last week about the Ministerial Code, it’s pretty clear he has broken it.”
Angela Richardson (Guildford, elected in 2019)
Richardson said on Facebook on Monday: “I have been consistent in my views about the standards people expect of those in high office. Last week, I made a statement following the publication of the full Sue Gray report that questioned whether those standards had been upheld… Given that, I will be voting No Confidence in Boris Johnson this evening.”
Mark Pawsey (Rugby, elected in 2010)
Pawsey said on Monday: “With a general election only two years away now is the right time for a new leader to bring about the changes we need to restore the country’s confidence in the government and ensure a Conservative victory in 2024.”
Julian Sturdy (York Outer, elected in 2010)
Sturdy withdrew his support in late May, on the day that the Sue Gray partygate report was published. On Twitter, he said: “This is clearly a time when we cannot have any doubts about the honesty, integrity and personal character of the prime minister.”
Steve Brine (Winchester, elected in 2010)
Brine posted a statement on his personal website in late May, saying that he “cannot and will not defend the indefensible. Rule makers cannot be law-breakers. We do need to move on but we cannot do that without regaining public trust and I am quite sure that’s not possible in the current situation.”
David Simmonds (Ruislip, Northwood & Pinner, elected in 2019)
Simmonds said in late May: “It is clear that while the government and our policies enjoy the confidence of the public, the prime minister does not. Accordingly, it is time for him to step down so that new leadership can take forward the important work of the government in ensuring that our people and country prosper.”
John Baron (Basildon & Billericay, elected in 2001)
Baron also withdrew his support in late May, writing: “His repeated assurances in parliament that there was no rule-breaking is simply not credible. Having always said I would consider all the available evidence before deciding, I’m afraid the Prime Minister no longer enjoys my support – I can no longer give him the benefit of the doubt.”
Stephen Hammond (Wimbledon, elected in 2005)
In late May Hammond announced he had submitted a letter of no confidence: “Since 9 December I have been critical of the prime minister’s behaviour and the culture that existed in No 10. All I can do as a backbencher is speak out and submit a letter.”
Alicia Kearns (Rutland & Melton, elected in 2019)
In late May Kearns published a statement on Facebook that re-affirmed her decision to submit a letter of no confidence in January, stating: “My position remains unchanged since January – when I submitted my letter of no confidence – and the prime minister continues not to hold my confidence. I remain committed to doing everything I can to support the communities of Rutland and Melton, and to upholding the true values of the Conservative Party.”
Sir Bob Neill (Bromley & Chislehurst, elected in 2006)
Neill published a statement on his website in May saying that “regrettably” he did not find the Prime Minister’s “assertions to be credible”. He explained that he had submitted a letter of no confidence: “Trust is the most important commodity in politics, but these events have undermined trust in not just the office of the Prime Minister, but in the political process itself. To rebuild that trust and move on, a change in leadership is required.”
Anne Marie Morris (Newton Abbot, elected in 2010)
Morris told Sky news at the end of May that she had submitted a letter of no confidence.
Jeremy Wright (Kenilworth & Southam, elected in 2005)
Wright posted an essay to his website at the end of May. It said: “Accountability and restoring faith in good government require something more, both to safeguard future public compliance with government instructions when it counts, and to allow the present government to deliver the important legislation it has introduced, including vital changes to social care funding, energy security and online regulation.
“It now seems to me that the Prime Minister remaining in office will hinder those crucial objectives.”
Elliot Colburn (Carshalton & Wallington, elected in 2019)
Colburn told his constituents that he had submitted a letter on 30 May.
Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire, elected in 2010)
Bridgen submitted a letter of no confidence in February after partygate revelations, but withdrew it when Russia invaded Ukraine because he felt it would be “wrong to have a leadership contest” at that time. At the end of May he re-submitted a letter, saying there was “obviously and rightly still a lot of anger about the culture in Number 10”.
John Stevenson (Carlisle, elected in 2010)
In June Stevenson declared he had submitted a no confidence letter. He said that he had been “deeply disappointed in the revelations concerning the activities at No 10 as well as the approach taken by the Prime Minister in his response to parliament”.
Jesse Norman (Hereford & South Herefordshire, elected in 2010)
Norman, a past supporter of Johnson, released a highly critical letter on 6 June in which he said that he could “very sadly” no longer support the Prime Minister, and attacked other government policy positions, including the approach to the Northern Ireland protocol of the Brexit agreement, the Rwandan migration policy and the privatisation of Channel 4.
Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley, elected in 2010)
Whittaker called for the Prime Minister to resign during a Facebook Q&A session in April, in which he said: “I not only think that the Prime Minister should resign but I also think that Rishi Sunak should resign as well.”
Nigel Mills (Amber Valley, elected in 2010)
Mills was the first Conservative backbencher to call for Johnson to quit after he was fined for breaking lockdwon rules in April. “In all conscience I don’t think a prime minister can survive or should survive breaking the rules he put in place,” he said.
Mark Harper (Forest of Dean, elected in 2005)
Harper called on Johnson to resign in April, submitting a letter of no confidence and saying that the Prime Minister was “no longer able to deliver the principled leadership required to take our country forward”.
Steve Baker (Wycombe, elected in 2010)
Baker also called for Johnson to resign in April. In the Commons he said: “I’ve been tempted to forgive but the possibility of that really for me has gone… The Prime Minister now should be long gone. The Prime Minister should just know the gig’s up.”
Sir Roger Gale (North Thanet, elected in 1983)
Gale originally submitted a letter of no confidence over Johnson’s handling of Dominic Cummings’s trip to Durham in March 2020, which he confirmed in May 2022 he had not withdrawn. In February Gale said: “I think the time has come for either the Prime Minister to go with dignity as his choice, or for the 1922 Committee to intervene.”
William Wragg (Hazel Grove, elected in 2015)
Wragg told the BBC in January that Johnson should offer his own resignation. He said: “I don’t believe it should be left to the findings of a civil servant [Sue Gray] to determine the future of the Prime Minister and indeed who governs this country. I think it is for the Conservative Party, if not the Prime Minister, in fact, to make that decision, and to realise what is in the best interest, so that we can move forward both as a party and a country.”
Caroline Nokes (Romsey & Southampton North, elected in 2010)
In January Nokes told Robert Peston on ITV that her constituents felt “let down and disappointed” and that Johnson should resign. “Now, regretfully, he looks like a liability,” she said.
Tim Loughton (East Worthing & Shoreham, elected in 1997)
Loughton publicly called for Johnson to quit in January. “Frankly the issue for me is not how many sausage rolls or glasses of Prosecco the Prime Minister actually consumed,” he said. “The reason for my conclusion in calling for him to stand down is the way that he has handled the mounting revelations in the last few weeks.”
David Davis (Haltemprice & Howden, elected in 1987)
Davis also called for Johnson to resign in January during Prime Minister’s Questions. He told the Prime Minister, “You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. In the name of God, go.”
Andrew Mitchell (Sutton Coldfield, elected in 2001, and Gedling, 1987-97)
Mitchell called for Johnson to go on 31 January, telling the Commons that the Prime Minister “no longer enjoys my support” after Gray published an interim update on her report.
Peter Aldous (Waveney, elected in 2010)
Aldous wrote a Twitter thread in February calling for the Prime Minister to resign. He said: “It is clear that he has no intention of doing so and I have therefore written to the chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs, advising him that I have no confidence in the Prime Minister as leader of the Conservative Party.”
Tobias Ellwood (Bournemouth East, elected in 2005)
Ellwood has been a vocal critic of Johnson for some time and submitted his no confidence letter in February.
Sir Gary Streeter (South West Devon, elected in 1992)
Streeter sent his letter of no confidence in February shortly after Gray’s update on her partygate inquiry. “I cannot reconcile the pain and sacrifice of the vast majority of the British public during lockdown with the attitude and activities of those working in Downing Street,” he said.
Anthony Mangnall (Totnes, elected in 2019)
Mangnall submitted a letter of no confidence in the Prime Minister in February. He tweeted: “His actions and mistruths are overshadowing the extraordinary work of so many excellent ministers and colleagues.”
Aaron Bell (Newcastle-under-Lyme, elected in 2019)
Bell also submitted his letter in February. In his speech in the Commons he described his grandmother’s Covid-compliant funeral and asked: “Does the Prime Minister think I’m a fool?”
Sir Nick Gibb (Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, elected in 1997)
Gibb announced his decision in a comment piece for the Daily Telegraph in February. He said: “My constituents are furious about the double standards – imposing harsh and, to my mind, necessary restrictions as we and the world sought to defend ourselves against this new and deadly virus, while at the same time flagrantly disregarding those rules within the fortress of Downing Street.”
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