Gosport MP Caroline Dinenage calls on Boris Johnson to quit and sends no-confidence letter to 1922 Committee

The Gosport MP has sent a letter of no confidence to Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee which represents backbench MPs.

In it, Ms Dinenage, who was elected in 2010 and made a Dame in the New Year Honours this year, says that despite her admiration for the government, it is the end of the road for Boris Johnson.

The letter from says: ‘I am writing to share my deep regret that I no longer have confidence in our Prime Minister, Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP.

‘This government has strong record on some of the biggest challenges we have faced as a country, not least in our world-beating Covid vaccine roll-out and our support for Ukraine.

‘However, the catalogue of recent events, concluding with the unforgivable mishandling of an alleged sexual assault, have significantly overshadowed these achievements and, in my view, have brought the Prime Minister's leadership into disrepute.

‘I like to think that I have served the Prime Minister, both as a Minister and backbench MP, with integrity and loyalty. However, my priorities will always be my loyalty to my constituents, the Conservative Party and this Country and I am sorry to say that I no longer believe the Prime Minister is governing in the best interests of any of them.

‘So, with sadness, I withdraw my support for the Prime Minister, in the hope that we can rebuild trust in the Conservative Party and deliver the strong leadership, integrity and vision that our great Country deserves.’

Conservative Party rules say that at least 15 per cent of Tory MPs must write a no-confidence letter to make a leadership challenge possible. There are currently 358 Tory MPs, meaning that the 15 per cent threshold equates to 54 MPs.

But it has been reported that a co-ordinated letter-writing campaign has seen dozens of letters written to Mr Brady in the last few days. It’s thought that if the number reaches 180 – a majority – a new no-confidence ballot would have to be organised soon, even though Mr Johnson won one recently. Under current rules the Prime Minister cannot face another challenge within a year.