Ex-minister Nick Gibb calls for Boris Johnson to resign and submits no-confidence letter

‘To restore trust, we need to change the prime minister,’ says Tory MP

Long-serving former schools minister Nick Gibb (Getty Images)

Ex-minister Nick Gibb has called on Boris Johnson to resign, piling further pressure on the prime minister as he seeks to stave off a backbench rebellion.

Mr Gibb, the long-serving former schools minister, on Friday night became the 14th Conservative MP to publicly announce he had submitted a letter of no-confidence in the PM.

His intervention came hours after Red Wall MP Aaron Bell also called for Mr Johnson to go.

Mr Gibb attacked Mr Johnson for “flagrantly disregarding” rules he had set “within the fortress of 10 Downing Street”.

He said his constituents were “furious about the double standards” and the prime minister had been “inaccurate” in statements to the Commons.

Writing in The Telegraph, the MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton said: “The prime minister accepted the resignation of Allegra Stratton for joking about a Christmas party that she hadn’t attended, but he won’t take responsibility for those that he did attend.

“I am sorry to say that it is hard to see how it can be the case that the prime minister told the truth.”

He said there was still support for the prime minister in his constituency, but that voters were also questioning whether they could trust Mr Johnson.

The MP said: “To restore trust, we need to change the prime minister.”

It came amid another bruising day for Mr Johnson.

Earlier, MP Aaron Bell also announced he had submitted a letter of no-confidence.

He said Boris Johnson’s position was “untenable” because of his handling of the Partygate scandal and the “breach of trust” represented by the series of lockdown-breaking events at 10 Downing Street.

In a desperate bid to stave off a mutiny by Tory MPs, Mr Johnson announced the creation of backbench committees to advise on government policy and vowed he would order cabinet ministers to take their views seriously.

But after the resignation of five key aides less than 24 hours, some supporters of the PM were urging him to short-circuit plots to remove him by calling a vote on his future himself.

No 10 insiders warned the increasingly isolated prime minister is becoming “unpredictable and erratic”.

Boris Johnson attempted to put a positive gloss on the exodus of senior officials from 10 Downing Street by quoting The Lion King.

“Change is good,” he told those remaining following the string of departures.