Steerpike

Defecting Tory MP Christian Wakeford did not mince his words in his letter to Boris Johnson, informing the PM of his decision to switch to the Labour party. 'You and the Conservative party as a whole have shown themselves incapable of offering the leadership and government this country deserves,' he wrote.  Wakeford is no stranger to criticising his fellow politicians: he famously called Owen Paterson a 'c***' in Parliament. The fledging Labour MP also made a habit of attacking Kier Starmer's party during his brief spell on the Tory backbenches. Here are six times Wakeford took a pop at Labour: Wakeford is no stranger to criticising his fellow politicians 'What we are seeing is a paradigm shift whereby the Labour party no longer represents those working-class communities.

Roll up, roll up: the leadership game is afoot. Every Tory with a smidgen of ambition is out on manoeuvres, flashing their ankles like a Victorian courtesan. All the aspirant 'big beasts' are getting in on the act: Jeremy Hunt is doing interviews, Liz Truss is hosting drinks at 5 Hertford Street while Penny Mordaunt is getting glowing profiles too. Most privately expect to lose to the heir apparent, saintly Rishi Sunak, but hope in so doing that they grab a decent Cabinet post as a consolation prize. But if the sinking SS Boris takes down all its crew, there is a chance that fearful Tories could turn to someone untainted by the ancien régime. Someone decent, moderate and sensible, who represents the best in British conservatism.

Boris Johnson is now facing the gravest peril of his premiership. A rising number of Conservative MPs have broken cover to publicly join calls for the PM to go, amid rising concern about what Johnson's survival means for their electoral prospects. So will the threshold of 54 Tory MPs – the number needed to trigger a vote of no confidence in Boris – actually be reached? Mr S is keeping tabs below... MPs who have submitted a letter to the 1922 committee chairman: 1. Sir Roger Gale MP: 'Enough is enough, a red line has been crossed' 2. Will Wragg MP: 'A series of unforced errors are deeply damaging to the perception of the party. The Prime Minister's position is untenable.' 3.

There's a fevered atmosphere within Parliament at present as MPs gather to debate Boris Johnson's future. The triennial game of 'pass the crown' is on again as revelations continue to emerge about what went on at Fabric No. 10 throughout the pandemic. Rumours abound as to whether Tory whips have posted sentries to watch Sir Graham Brady's office for any MPs submitting letters to call for a vote of confidence, with some handing them to braver colleagues to hand them in. Fortunately for nervy backbenchers, the 1922 committee rules were recently changed to allow letters to be sent via email. With tensions running high, any sign of MPs breaking ranks could cause the rest of the herd to stampede.

It's easier than ever for Tory MPs to attack the PM. Whereas once media was the preserve of four channels and dominated by a handful of national papers, platforms like Twitter have made it quicker than ever before for Conservative backbenchers to issue stinging criticisms. And indeed many have made the most of such sites in recent weeks, as the pressure on Boris Johnson over partygate steadily increases. Tim Loughton became the sixth Tory MP to call for Johnson to go on Saturday, taking to Facebook to explain his decision. Some though prefer to express their criticisms through the more traditional mechanism of an MPs' weekly column in the local constituency newspaper. And, in a sign which should worry No.

Ping! An email lands in Steerpike's inbox. It's been a while since we heard from Dominic Grieve, the Francophile Beaconsfield barrister who quit the Tory party in October 2019. Since losing his seat by 15,000 votes at the last election, Grieve has largely contented himself with minor academic sinecures and occasional swipes at his old nemesis Boris Johnson. But now the president of the Franco-British society has returned to the fray, drafting a critical amendment to the government's flagship Policing, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill today. Grieve has — surprise, surprise — teamed up with the ardent Remainiacs over at Best for Britain, the anti-Johnson pressure group last seen trying to make a Brexit culture war out of Covid.