13th British parliamentarian calls on Boris Johnson to step down as prime minister
British member of parliament Aaron Bell has become the 13th Conservative parliamentarian to submit a no-confidence letter to 1922 Committee chair Sir Graham Brady, publicly calling for Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s resignation over government violations of its own lockdown rules.
In a statement on Friday, Bell said that the PM’s position was “untenable” because of his mishandling of the scandal and the “breach of trust” represented by the series of rule-breaking parties at 10 Downing Street amid lockdowns.
A Brexiteer and supporter of Johnson at the time of the 2019 leadership elections Bell reiterated that he had been “profoundly disappointed” by the developments in recent months.
“Does the prime minister think I’m a fool?” he said in a Commons debate on Monday, referring to the strict social distancing regulations at his grandmother’s funeral, which did not allow him to hug his own family members.
Prior to Bell, several other MPs had submitted their letter of no-confidence, urging the scandalous PM to resign. Backbench MPs Tobias Ellwood, Anthony Mangnall, and Gary Streeter have joined rebel colleagues by submitting a letter of no-confidence.
However, 1992 Committee would trigger a vote on Johnson’s future as Tory leader if no-confidence letters pass the threshold of 54.
The development comes as Johnson has turned down calls for his resignation even after the publication of a report on rule-breaking lockdown parties that blasted “failures of leadership and judgment” at 10 Downing Street.
The premier was forced to offer an apology in the House of Commons earlier this week after Civil Servant Sue Gray published a part of the findings of her investigation into the Downing Street secret parties held by Johnson’s staff.
Gray’s report gave a scathing assessment of the culture inside government departments that saw alcohol-fueled gatherings of staff at a time when ordinary people faced fines for meetings or mourned their loved ones amid the spread of COVID-19.
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