No confidence vote: why is Boris Johnson staging a vote of no confidence in Tory government - and when is it?

The caretaker administration will table a vote of no confidence in itself after Labour’s motion to do so failed
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The Conservative Government will table a vote of no confidence in itself.

In a bizarre move, the caretaker government - which has been in place since Boris Johnson announced his intent to resign - announced that the vote of no confidence will only be relating to the government and not Mr Johnson himself.

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But why have Tory MPs decided to do so, what has been said about the situation and when will the vote take place?

Here’s everything you need to know.

Boris Johnson, who has announced his intent to stand down as Prime Minister and Tory party leader, has staged a vote of no confidence in his government - but why? (Credit: Getty Images)Boris Johnson, who has announced his intent to stand down as Prime Minister and Tory party leader, has staged a vote of no confidence in his government - but why? (Credit: Getty Images)
Boris Johnson, who has announced his intent to stand down as Prime Minister and Tory party leader, has staged a vote of no confidence in his government - but why? (Credit: Getty Images)

Why has the Tory government tabled a vote of no confidence in itself?

In a move that may baffle some, the choice to table the confidence vote actually comes after a similar Labour motion failed to make it through the chamber.

Ministers have argued that Labour used the proposed vote to “play politics” by including the Prime Minister in the motion, given that he has already announced his resignation and would therefore waste “valuable parliamentary time”.

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In response to Labour’s attempted vote, Tory ministers offered to hold their own vote, but only in the government itself.

A Government spokeswoman said: “Labour were given the option to table a straightforward vote of no confidence in the Government in keeping with convention, however they chose not to.

“To remedy this we are tabling a motion which gives the House the opportunity to decide if it has confidence in the Government.

“The Government will always allow time for appropriate House matters whilst ensuring that it delivers parliamentary business to help improve people’s everyday lives.”

What will happen in the confidence vote?

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The vote will ask whether “this House has confidence in Her Majesty’s Government”.

Although this is expected to pass as the Conservatives currently hold a working majority of 78, if the vote fails it could trigger a general election.

When will the vote take place?

The vote will be held by Mr Johnson in the House of Commons.

It is ewill take place on Monday 18 July, with the debate on the motion beginning at 5pm.

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MPs will then vote at 10pm, with the results expected shortly after.

What has been said about the confidence vote?

While the Tory government are hoping to quell any opposition confidence votes, Labour has criticised the move, saying that the Government was “concerned” that it would losr the original vote.

A Labour spokesman said: “The motion that we tabled was in order, the clerks ruled it in order, we had precedent based on the 1965 vote of no confidence there was with Ted Heath and Harold Wilson.

“If the Government wants to table a different motion, that’s obviously up to them.

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“But what’s clear is that the Government was concerned it would lose the vote on the motion that we had put forward, otherwise why are they putting forward this alternative motion on Monday?”

They added that the slew of Tory MPs who had criticised Mr Johnson for remaining in temporary power until the next leader is chosen should “vote accordingly”, saying: “We look forward to the dozens of Conservative MPs who have already expressed no confidence in Boris Johnson in writing to vote accordingly next week because to do anything else would be brazen hypocrisy.”

Alternatively, the Liberal Democrats have backed resubmitting a re-worded version of Labour’s motion, with the party’s chief whip Wendy Chamberlain adding: “These are desperate tactics from the Conservatives, who are looking to duck scrutiny for propping up Boris Johnson.

“Conservative MPs risk a major public backlash if they refuse to back this motion.”

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