Labour to table vote of no confidence as Tory leadership election deadline nears end
Labour is going to table a vote of no confidence in the government today, as the Conservative leadership election heats up.
Keir Starmer will put forward a motion in Parliament to try and force prime minister Boris Johnson out of office before the contest ends.
The prime minister, who resigned last week following a series of dramatic resignations, faces his final few weeks in charge ahead of the handover in September.
This comes as the Tory leadership race is set to be transformed this week from more than 11 candidates to just two, as the powerful backbench 1922 Committee is set to vote on who remains in the contest.
Candidates require at least 20 votes from other Tory MPs to remain in the contest.
Former chancellor Rishi Sunak is viewed as the frontrunner in the contest, with other leading hopefuls including Sajid Javid, Penny Mordaunt, Nadhim Zahawi and Liz Truss.
It was announced yesterday that the new Conservative leader will be announce don 5 September, with voting starting on Wednesday.
Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, said the party is “laying a vote of no confidence in this caretaker Prime Minister and his government.”
Calling for Johnson to go by the end of the week, he said the Tories “can’t now let him cling on for weeks, and weeks, and weeks until the 5th of September. It would be intolerable for the country.”