Johnson could be out sooner as Tory MPs push for quick election

Tory MPs have started a push for a quick election which means Boris Johnson’s days as Prime Minister may be over sooner rather than later.

With the 1922 Committee still to announce the rules and the timetable, Conservative Party MPs told Reuters on Saturday, July 9 that they want the election to be sped up with the final two candidates confirmed by July 20 and the campaign to be over before parliament goes into recess for the summer.  

Johnson had agreed to go orderly and to hand over the reins at the Conservative Party conference in the autumn, but many MPs think time is of the essence. They believe that the party’s reputation has been severely damaged and there is a need to move on, and quickly.

The usual process for electing a new leader is for MPs to whittle the candidates down to two in a series of votes. Those two are then normally put to the wider membership in the form of a postal vote.

Those plans could however be in jeopardy with strikes looming at Royal Mail.

1922 Committee Treasurer Geoffrey Clifton-Brown told Times Radio: “Clearly what we would want to do, and I think even the candidates would admit this is, is to eliminate some of those that are clearly not going to get enough support to get in the last two at a relatively early stage.”

With more than four already having thrown their hat into the ring and as many as 12 having indicated they could do so, Clifton-Brown said they may need to increase the threshold of votes candidates must receive to progress to the next round.

He added: “I think that we will be able to frame a process to actually come up with two names by the time parliament goes down on the 20th of July.

“We should have an answer by the time of the party conference in October and maybe before that.”

The Tory push for a quick election by MPs comes with Johnson’s government hamstrung as he fulfils the role as caretaker. It also comes as public opinion continues to suggest voters would like to see him leave sooner rather than later, as it does the muted and at times vitriolic responses from the international community to the end of his reign.

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