Former Business Secretary ratchets up pressure on PM over Partygate
Former Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom has joined the growing chorus of Tory MPs expressing their dismay at “significant failures of leadership” at the top of government, casting further doubt over the Prime Minister’s future.
In a letter to her constituents, the South Northamptonshire MP said it was “extremely unlikely” that senior figures at Number 10 and the Cabinet Office were unaware of what had taken place during the Downing Street gatherings investigated by the Metropolitan Police and senior civil servant Sue Gray.
Leadsom said she agreed with the conclusions of Gray’s investigation into the Partygate scandal, and insisted that her colleagues “must now decide individually” on the right course of action to restore confidence in the government.
North West Leicestershire MP Andrew Bridgen and Alicia Kearns, MP for Rutland and Melton, have both publicly signalled their lack of confidence in the Prime Minister.
A leadership contest could be triggered if Sir Graham Brady MP, chair of the 1922 committee, receives 54 or more letters of no confidence.
Several media outlets are already reporting that “enough” letters have been submitted.
Kearns – alleged to be a ringleader of the so-called “Pork Pie Plot” to unseat Boris Johnson – has said that the parties at Number 10 showed a “complete disregard” for the Covid restrictions in place at the time.
