Tobias Ellwood says Boris Johnson owes it to the party and that Putin could exploit his law-breaker image
Boris Johnson should hold a vote of confidence to confirm his leadership after the conclusion of the police investigation into parties at No 10 and if local elections go badly for the Conservatives, a Tory MP has said.
Tobias Ellwood, the chair of the Commons defence committee, warned that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, could “exploit” the prime minister’s image as a law-breaker following the fixed-penalty notices for attending parties in No 10.
Ellwood, the MP for Bournemouth East, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think the prime minister has made his intentions clear – he wants to stay – but this is bigger than the prime minister.”
He said that since the scandal risked harming the party’s reputation, Johnson owed it to the parliamentary party to hold a vote of confidence.
