Yorkshire Conservative grandee says Boris Johnson is in 'real trouble' as prospect of confidence vote looms

Speculation is mounting that Boris Johnson could face a vote as early as next week, with a growing list of MPs having called on him to resign since the release of the Sue Gray report into lockdown rule breaking last week.

Former party leader and Richmond MP Lord Hague said it was now clear that allies of Mr Johnson who believed he had escaped unscathed after the relatively muted initial response to the report last week were mistaken.

He told Times Radio yesterday that the release of the report had lit a “slow fuse” among MPs.

“I think Boris Johnson is in real trouble here,” he said.

“A lot of people misread it really, the events of last week as meaning the trouble is over, Boris is free and that’s actually not the mood in the Conservative Party which is very, very troubled about the contents of that report.

“So I think the Conservative Party will need to resolve this one way or another, obviously because to be an effective party they either need to rally behind the Prime Minister they’ve got, or they need to decide to force him out and I think they’re moving towards either next week or around the end of June, they are moving towards having a ballot, it looks like that.”

Meanwhile, former Cabinet Minister Dame Andrea Leadsom accused Mr Johnson of “unacceptable failings of leadership”.

In a letter to her constituents, Dame Andrea said the “extent and severity” of the rule-breaking in No 10 exposed in the Sue Gray report meant it was “extremely unlikely” the senior leadership did not know what was going on.

“The conclusion I have drawn from the Sue Gray report is that there have been unacceptable failings of leadership that cannot be tolerated and are the responsibility of the Prime Minister,” she said.

In the message, which was shared on social media, she stopped short of directly calling on Mr Johnson to resign and did not say whether she had submitted a letter calling for a no confidence vote.

Their interventions came after Conservative North Yorkshire County Council leader Carl Les said he would “support” Mr Johnson resigning and there being a leadership election.

He told the Guardian newspaper he is “very disappointed that the strong majority we had in North Yorkshire has diminished down to a working majority, but only just, and a lot of the comment we were getting on the doorstep was about the impact of Partygate”.

Since the end of last week a steady stream of MPs – having had a chance to study Ms Gray’s findings in detail and consult with their constituents – have come forward calling on Mr Johnson to quit.

Under party rules, the chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee is required to call a vote of confidence in Mr Johnson’s leadership if 54 Tory MPs – 15 per cent of the parliamentary party – submit a letter calling for one.

In Westminster it is thought the tally is approaching the total needed to trigger a vote, with a number of MPs believed to have submitted letters anonymously to the chairman, Sir Graham Brady.

Arts minister Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay said it is “pointless” to speculate on numbers but acknowledged the continued uncertainty is a “distraction” as the Government seeks to focus on the cost-of-living crisis.

“It’s pointless speculating about something unless or until it happens,” he told Sky News.