Boris Johnson ally becomes third Tory MP to resign within 24 hours – as it happened | Politics | The Guardian

From 23h ago

Boris Johnson ally Nigel Adams steps down as MP

The Conservative MP for Selby and Ainsty, Nigel Adams, has stepped down with immediate effect.

In a post on Twitter, he said:

Yesterday, Selby Conservatives selected an excellent new parliamentary candidate.

I’ve today informed the chief whip that I will be standing down as a Member of Parliament with immediate effect.

It has been an honour to represent the area where I was raised, educated &

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— Nigel Adams MP 🇬🇧 (@nadams) June 10, 2023

I want to thank my constituents for their wonderful support since 2010.

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— Nigel Adams MP 🇬🇧 (@nadams) June 10, 2023

A summary of today's developments

• The Conservative MP for Selby and Ainsty, Nigel Adams, has stepped down with immediate effect, the third Tory MP to resign in 24 hours after Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries.

• Labour has established a clear lead over the Tories in more than 100 battleground seats that will decide the next election, according to a new analysis seen by the Observer. Keir Starmer’s party has now secured a 10% swing from the Conservatives in a set of 144 seats in which the vote will be won and lost. Labour now holds a seven-point lead over the Tories in the seats, which include marginals in England, Wales and Scotland.

• Boris Johnson is a “coward” who has “no respect” for the 2019 Conservative voters who put their faith in him, Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, has said. Rayner added that Johnson jumped to avoid a potential byelection in his west London constituency.

• Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, has ruled out a formal pact with Labour to encourage tactical voting in order to beat the Conservatives in the byelections triggered by Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries’ shock resignations.

• David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, said “most” MPs thought Boris Johnson had misled the House of Commons with his Partygate assurances. The Tory MP told GB News: “The truth of the matter is, ask around parliament, ask most of the MPs, most people are fairly sure he misled the house. And he did so many times and he did so knowing that these parties had occurred and he had been at some of them. It is hard to be at a party and not notice it is a party.”

Rishi Sunak is under growing pressure to bar Boris Johnson from standing as a Conservative candidate at the next election, as senior Tories accused the former prime minister and his allies of a coordinated attempt to derail the government, writes Michael Savage and Toby Helm.

Amid anger at Johnson within the party over his explosive departure, in which he said he was only leaving Westminster “for now” and accused a cross-party committee of “egregious bias”, there is now a concerted push among senior Tories to ensure Johnson has no route back to the Commons for the foreseeable future.

One senior member of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, a former backer of Johnson, said it was the clear view among colleagues that he should be blocked from standing for another Tory seat at the next election.

Labour’s campaign co-ordinator, Shabana Mahmood, said Rishi Sunak has “lost control” of his party and is “too weak” to unite the Conservatives, before accusing Boris Johnson of showing “disdain” to his former constituents.

She told Sky News: “People here care about the cost of living, the Tories care about themselves.”

Mahmood added she would be a “billionaire” if she had £1 for every time a journalist had asked her whether Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey have had discussions about an unofficial pact.

She said: “We need MPs who are going to be the voice of their areas in Parliament, not treating their MP title as a plaything to do damage to their Tory prime minister.

“It is clear that these resignations and these by-elections are designed to do maximum damage to this Tory prime minister.

“This (Boris Johnson) is not a man who cares about anything other than Boris Johnson.

“What we care about is the voters of Uxbridge, he has shown disdain for the voters of Uxbridge.”

So he’s gone, in a flurry of self-pity, narcissism and baseless accusations. It was typical, classic, un-classy, purely puerile Boris Johnson, writes the Labour MP Chris Bryant.

Of course he thinks he’s the victim. So no apology. No acceptance of responsibility. No mention of those who abided by the rules when he and his mates flouted them. Nothing but overweening self-regard.

Nadhim Zahawi, the former chancellor, has denied speculation that he might be planning to quit as an MP in the wake of Boris Johnson’s resignation.

Any speculation that I might be stepping down from my seat is untrue. The people of Stratford-on-Avon, and the country, want the Government to get on with delivering for Britain, I will be continuing to support the Government from the Conservative benches in the House of Commons.

— Nadhim Zahawi (@nadhimzahawi) June 10, 2023

Voters in Boris Johnson’s former constituency have said they are turning away from the Tories as Labour tries to win the seat for the first time in its history.

Some passers-by in the centre of Uxbridge, at the heart of the Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency where a by-election will now take place, told the PA news agency they have abandoned the party.

The seat is becoming increasingly competitive for Labour – which is seeking to overturn a 7,200 majority.

However, some in the seat said the former PM was the victim of a partygate stitch-up.

Ron Redworth, 61, who works for Waitrose and lives in nearby Windsor and Maidenhead – which Theresa May represents, said: “I was surprised (to hear Boris had resigned), I was very surprised.

“I feel there has been an attempt to oust him because he was pro-Brexit.

“He should definitely have resigned over the coronavirus because you can’t be the leader of your country and carry on like that.

“You have to toe the line.

“He should have resigned as prime minister but not as an MP.”

Lea Valaris, 70, who lives in marginal Harrow, said: “He has probably done the right thing.

“I voted for him. He was a good prime minister, especially in relation to Ukraine. However he was kind of immature, he ran Downing Street a bit too lax. He should have tightened the reins.”

Anna Casey, 40, who lives in the constituency said: “This is a born liar. He was going to do all he could to stop the Third Runway and HS2 but he did a complete U-turn.

“I won’t be voting for the Conservatives in the by-election even though I have voted for them before.

“If he had stuck to his word maybe I would have voted for them again.”

The Sunday Times is reporting that Boris Johnson’s allies claim that more Conservative MPs will resign and trigger by-elections.

But a number of Johnson supporters quickly ruled themselves out of any co-ordinated resignation plot.

Priti Patel is expected to stand in the next election while red wall MPs including Jonathan Gullis, Brendan Clarke-Smith and Dehenna Davison dismissed suggestions they were planning to resign.

According to the newspaper, Andrea Jenkyns, who was made a dame in Johnson’s resignation honours, has told friends that she is not going anywhere, as has Conor Burns.

Danny Beales, Labour’s candidate in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election, said at the party’s campaign launch in west London that people are feeling “pretty fed up” - whether they “voted Labour or Conservative”.

He told Sky News: “They feel the country is not working.

“I definitely think we’re in with a shot, we just need to get out there, speak to as many people as we can and make the case that I would be a great full-time MP and we need change, a new government too.

“I think mostly the sense for the last 10 years was we haven’t had a local MP, there hasn’t been an advice surgery where you can go and see your MP.

“You may write, you may get a response, you might not.”

Some analysis from Sky News’s Beth Rigby.

His resignation a shock: close political allies tell me they didn’t know it coming. But timing of bombshell makes sense: he’d clearly decided to quit rather than suffer the humiliation of vote to suspend him, but he wanted honours list signed off first. Once that done, he was off

— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) June 10, 2023

There’d been expectation privileges cttee might avoid toughest of sanctions, but hear that subsequent info passed to cttee, & police, which emerged when Cab Office reviewed docs for Covid inquiry damning (BJ spot called this a political motivated stitch up) & BJ ‘bang to rights’

— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) June 10, 2023

Also heard from one figure that the findings of the committee were unanimous against him - but will have to wait for report to be published to find out (that will happen perhaps next week with the cttee now looking to expedite publication)

— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) June 10, 2023

With Boris Johnson appearing to leave the door open for a return to Parliament, saying he was leaving “for now” in his lengthy statement last night, Tory MP Bob Seely told Times Radio that Johnson “ain’t going to be leader of the Conservative Party again” and his achievements were “all in the past”.

Boris Johnson quit with a furious resignation statement that left open the threat of a return. But now unencumbered by the duties of parliamentary life, what lies ahead for the former prime minister?

Another lap of the lucrative speaking circuit

Johnson has already proved that despite the manner of his departure from office and the opprobrium heaped upon him by some of his own MPs, he can still command hefty fees from crypto bros, banks and businesses for one of his idiosyncratic speeches. He has already earned in the region of £5m since standing down as prime minister. Quitting parliament not only allows him to maintain his reputation as a winner among potential paymasters, it also means he will no longer have to declare his earnings.
Likelihood: 5/5