Angela Rayner: Labour will call a no-confidence vote if Boris Johnson doesn’t go by Monday
Labour’s deputy leader has pledged to bring forward a vote of no confidence in the government if the Conservatives don’t immediately remove Boris Johnson.
The opposition figure called on the party of government to quickly remove the incumbent “lame duck” of Number 10. Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has also said he’d back a no confidence in the government motion.
Davey said there’d be a “real problem” if he didn’t go soon.
This comes after Boris Johnson made a speech outside Number 10 yesterday announcing he would be leaving his role as head of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister.
He didn’t however mentioned the word ‘resign’, blaming the “herd” for his departure, and reportedly wants to stay in post until September, in part, to hold a wedding party at Chequers.
There is fear that Johnson will try to cling on to power for as long as possible, and frustrate the process for leadership transition, or even reverse his decision to quit.
“If he doesn’t hand back the keys we’ll make sure he’s turfed out of there”, Rayner told Kay Burley on Sky News.
She also told BBC Breakfast, “the fact he is trying to cling on for a few months is completely unacceptable”.
She added that “Johnson admitted that he had met the former KGB spy, Alexander Lebedev, in secret, without officials, that’s a national security risk, he completely disregarding the rules, and that’s why he can’t carry on”.
Johnson has announced a new cabinet, but some positions are yet to be filled in wake of so many resignations in the lead up to his decision to quit.
She also said she wasn’t worried about any of the frontrunners to replace the PM, which include Grant Shapps and Suella Braverman. James Cleverly and Dominic Raab have ruled themselves out.
Cleverly told Burnley “it’s right the PM has stepped down and will soon hand over to a successor” and that no new cabinet ministers knew how long they’d be in post. ‘
She also said she wasn’t “losing any sleep” over the Durham police fine decision with regards to alleged lockdown breaches, expected on Monday.
“We don’t believe that we’ve broken the rules” she said, but committed to resign if the force decided they should be slapped with a fixed penalty notice.