Boris Johnson news latest: Labour to call confidence motion today in bid to oust PM

Penny Mordaunt has claimed she has what it takes to break the SNP’s “yellow wall”, as she made her leadership pitch to members in Scotland.

Writing in the Scottish Daily Mail, she said she would dodge any questions about holding another referendum on Scottish independence, claiming she was “against playing on the SNP’s turf”.

She also said the party should set the ambition to “beat the nationalists one day” using a “positive vision, unity of purpose and record of delivery”, adding: “I can be a prime minister that wins votes across Scotland, the yellow wall, the red wall, blue wall and the entire United Kingdom.

“I want to be campaigning just as hard in Peterhead as in Portsmouth North, my own constituency. I firmly believe my positive vision for all of our United Kingdom can overcome the SNP’s relentless push to split up Scotland. I hope you will join me on the journey.”

Boris Johnson has not ruled out trying to make a comeback should his successor’s government collapse, his allies have told The Times.

But Sarah Southern, a former aide to David Cameron, has told LBC: “It doesn’t seem like a reality at the minute, does it? I think if 59 members of your government choose to resign it’s going to take something pretty mega to have a comeback after that.”

She added: “I think once you’ve been prime minister and you’ve had your time, it’s time to move on.”

A former political adviser to Boris Johnson has claimed that the PM was elected “to be the British Trump”.

Appearing on hard-right Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s show, Thomas Corbett-Dillon said: “He was going to stick it to the elites, but he very quickly got sucked in by the sort of globalist agenda.

“You know, he spent a lot of time sucking up to Macron and Merkel that he forgot he’s a conservative. As you said, he went very hard on lockdown, very hard on vaccines.

“He became woke and then he fully signed up to this Greta Thunberg idea of the world is ending, which is not what the conservative people voted for.”

In a swipe at his predecessor Rishi Sunak, chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has insisted that “cutting taxes isn’t a fairytale”, as he sets out his pitch to Tory voters.

In a new leadership campaign video, Mr Zahawi said that he would reform education to give pupils “the tools they need to succeed in life”, adding: “Faced by Russia and China it is clear we must increase our spending on defence. And of course we need to reduce the burden of tax. I believe cutting taxes isn’t a fairytale but rather a critical step to tackle the cost-of-living crisis.”

Mr Zahawi suggested Boris Johnson’s government had felt “a little listless” recently, and claimed he would be a “battle-tested prime minister” because of his role in the Covid-19 vaccines rollout.

Priti Patel is reported to have been “genuinely torn” last night over whether to launch her own leadership bid, following a last-ditch appeal to the European Research Group (ERG) of Brexiteer Tory MPs as she sought to secure their support.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the home secretary vowed to cut taxes, ditch green levies and start fracking, and warned the UK is “quite frankly in one hell of a hole” of rocketing inflation, adding: “No one in the party has gripped this and it must be the priority for our party.”

One ERG source told the paper that Ms Patel “got a good reception”, while another said: “She is on the same page. They all agreed with her.”

Rishi Sunak, however, is claimed by the paper to have “got huffy”, reportedly saying “I thought this was about Brexit” and quickly taking his leave after members of the ERG began to expand their questioning.

Nadhim Zahawi has insisted it was appropriate to set out tax proposals as part of his campaign – after criticism from Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey that sitting chancellors should make such pledges in budgets, not leadership races.

Mr Bailey told MPs yesterday: “I care less about what the other 15 or 20 or however many there are at the moment think about this, but I do care about somebody who is actually the chancellor who is running around doing it. That can move markets, can’t it? That can cause problems.”

But Mr Zahawi told BBC Breakfast: “I’m setting out my stall as prime minister and I have fully costed these pledges, and I’ll be saying more about the way we’ll pay for that in the coming days.”

Today’s confidence motion will be the first time such a vote has been held since Jeremy Corbyn brought a vote against Theresa May’s government in January 2019, following a historic defeat on her Brexit plans.

Our political correspondent Ashley Cowburn has this breaking update:

Sir Keir Starmer will table a no confidence motion in Boris Johnson’s government today in an attempt to oust him from office before the conclusion of the Tories’ leadership contest in September.

With the prime minister now set to remain in No 10 for the next eight weeks, Labour will force Tory MPs and the 11 leadership hopefuls to vote on whether or not to support Mr Johnson’s government.

The party confirmed it is seeking to hold the vote in the House of Commons on Wednesday after prime minister’s questions.

Despite Tory MPs’ anger and mass resignations from the ministerial ranks last week, Labour’s motion is highly unlikely to pass, with many MPs now accepting Mr Johnson’s caretaker status.

Throwing his backing behind Jeremy Hunt, Tory MP Anthony Mangnall has told Sky News that the former health secretary “doesn’t need a shiny video with music in the background to get his point across”.

He insisted Mr Hunt’s campaign “is doing very well”, adding: “He’s a dignified candidate, he’s someone who I think has a great deal of respect from across the party and across the membership and across the whole of the country, and I think we’ve got the numbers to make a really good showing.”

With just hours left for Tory leadership hopefuls to secure enough backing to reach the ballot, Nadhim Zahawi has insisted that he has the requisite support of 20 colleagues.

“We’ve got them and we will be putting a nomination in later,” the new chancellor told BBC Breakfast.

A running count in The Spectator magazine places his support at 13.