The Tory MP Sir Bob Neill has called on Boris Johnson to quit, dealing another blow to the prime minister’s hopes of drawing a line under the Partygate scandal. The MP for Bromley and Chislehurst in south London said he had submitted a letter of no confidence because the string of rule-breaking parties across Westminster had “undermined trust in not just the office of the prime minister, but in the political process itself”. Neill said he had waited for the full Sue Gray investigation to conclude before making a judgment, and that “my years as a lawyer have taught me not to come to conclusions without the fullest possible evidence”. His announcement came hours after the ministerial aide Paul Holmes stepped down, citing Sue Gray’s damning report. Neill added: “I have been equally clear that we cannot have one rule for those working in government and a different one for everyone else. Those of us who set the rules have a particular responsibility to stick to them ourselves. “Sue Gray’s report has highlighted a pattern of wholly unacceptable behaviour, spread over a number of months, by some working in 10 Downing Street, including breaking rules that caused real pain and hardship for many, and which the government, and we as parliamentarians, were telling others to live by.” Neill said he had “listened carefully to the explanations the prime minister has given, in parliament and elsewhere” but did “not find his assertions to be credible”, adding he submitted a no confidence letter on Wednesday afternoon. A total of 54 letters is needed to trigger a no confidence vote. Alicia Kearns, a previous critic of Johnson, whose constituency, which includes Melton Mowbray, sparked talk of a “pork pie putsch” when she and other Tory MPs discussed trying to oust the PM in January, released a statement on Friday she still had no confidence in him. In a stinging Facebook post, Kearns said calls to move on “is to treat with contempt and disregard” the sacrifices other people made. She wrote: “I can only conclude that the prime minister’s account of events to parliament was misleading. If he did not know about the culture of parties, then this is because he failed to ask the questions necessary, or has chosen not to since last October. Those around him clearly did not advise a policy of being honest and transparent with the British people.” She did not say whether she had submitted a letter of no confidence. Also on Friday, Holmes, the Conservative MP for Eastleigh, stepped down as an aide to the home secretary, Priti Patel.
He said in a letter to his constituents there was a “toxic culture that seemed to have permeated No 10” and that “this distress has led me to conclude that I want to continue to focus solely on my efforts in being your member of parliament and the campaigns that are important to you”. Holmes did not say whether he wanted Johnson to resign, or if he had submitted a letter of no confidence.
Eastleigh, on the south coast of England, was held by the Liberal Democrats until 2015. It is typical of the seats some Conservative MPs fear that – even with a substantial 15,000 majority like Holmes’s – could flip, given voters’ concerns about Johnson. The prime minister’s allies are trying to bring an end to the Partygate scandal, which has dominated the news agenda for six months, but there has been a continuing series of calls for Johnson’s resignation from the Tory backbenches. Stephen Hammond, a former health minister who has a majority of 628 in his Wimbledon seat, described the conclusions of the Gray report as damning. “I cannot and will not defend the indefensible,” he said. “I am struck by a number of my colleagues who were really concerned that it’s almost impossible for the PM to say I want to move on, as we cannot move on without regaining public trust and I am not sure that’s possible in the current situation.”
Two other Tory MPs, David Simmonds and John Baron, said they had lost confidence in Johnson. Another, Angela Richardson, who quit as a parliamentary private secretary earlier in the year, said she would have resigned if she had been in Johnson’s position. Julian Sturdy, the Conservative MP for York Outer, called on Wednesday for Johnson to go. The report had left him “unable to give the prime minister the benefit of the doubt”, he said. Johnson’s own anti-corruption tsar, John Penrose, also revealed this week that he was still thinking about whether to submit a no-confidence letter. “There is a great deal of concern about whether or not he’s been telling the truth in parliament,” Penrose said.