With the benefit of hindsight, it was obvious something wasn’t right. Boris Johnson looked unusually forlorn, occasionally holding his head in his hands, while sitting just yards from members of the Royal Family in the grandstand for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Pageant.
The Prime Minister was even worse because Sir Keir starmer, Labour leader, was within reach as the entertainment took place in front Buckingham Palace.
He was about to take the short trip to Buckingham Palace to meet his wife Carrie when the thunderbolt hit. When he saw his name on the screen, his mobile phone vibrated. Sir Graham Brady was the chairman of 1922 Committee of Tory Members.
Boris was physically sick. He knew Brady was going to bring the most terrible news.
Politely and firmly, the Chairman of the 1922 Committee informed the Prime Minister that the 15% threshold for Tory MPs sending letters of no confidence to him had been met. It meant there was to be a vote on the Prime Minister’s future. Brady had delayed his call in order to avoid that the Platinum Jubilee would be overshadowed.
But that conversation was all it took to break the dam, which resulted in one of Britain’s most exciting dramas.
Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of Boris Johnson was unable to rebound from a devastating vote against confidence.
Sir Graham Brady (chairman of the 1922 Committee of Tory Members) called Prime Minister to inform him that the threshold for a vote of confidence had been reached
Johnson said “Hasta la Vista, baby!” at the end of his session of Prime Minister Questions in House of Commons.
It marked the beginning of the downfall for the Prime Minister, who made his last show at the Commons. Today, the Mail tells the full inside story of Boris’s toppling for the first time.
This is the story of jaw-dropping treachery, duplicitous ministers but also mishaps at the top levels of government. It’s a snap of history where the Tory leader who was the most popular since Margaret Thatcher was defenestrated brutally by his colleagues.
Boris, who was too drained to contemplate the fate of his family during the Jubilee Pageant collapsed and ran for it as soon as he reached the car. 10.
He started calling his inner circle. They included Guto Harri, communications chief; Steve Barclay, chief of staff; David Canzini, deputy chief of staff; Nigel Adams, Cabinet Office minister; and Adams’s flatmate Chris Heaton-Harris, Chief Whip, who would be in charge of marshalling support for Boris during the confidence vote.
The mood was bleak as they gathered that Sunday evening in the Thatcher Room under a portrait of Britain’s first woman Prime Minister — she who was also forced from office by disloyal MPs.
Boris was upset. Adams had assured him by phone that no confidence vote was possible days before.
Adams, however, was away on holiday in Croatia when the call occurred. It was hard for Adams to keep in touch with his family and he didn’t realize that letters were piled up to the 1922 Committee asking him for a vote. He relied on the information of Chief Whip Heaton Harris (his flatmate), who only had been in office since February. It was clear that he was too unfamiliar to fully understand the situation.
However, the Thatcher Room was empty by the time that the inner circle met. There was no need to recriminate. The only thing that had to be determined was the date and time for voting.
It was heated. Many wanted to end the debate. However, others advocated restraint. They argued that the PM would require time to rally support at the Commons.
Boris agreed to act quickly and the election was set for the following day. In making that decision, he surrendered his most powerful weapon — patronage. He could also offer trade envoy positions, ministerial posts and gongs as PM.
‘The vote should have been held at the end of the week. We were on the back foot from the beginning,’ said one ally. ‘But he was swayed by the ones who were arguing: “Show them who’s the boss. Do it straight away.” It was a serious error of judgment.’
Boris felt buoyant by Adams and Heaton Harris’s assurances about his ability to comfortably survive the confidence votes. Boris was informed that there would be less than 100 rebel MPs.
They all acknowledged it would be catastrophic should 150 MPs vote against him — but not one person in the Thatcher Room meeting thought there was any prospect of that happening.
As the secret ballot was taking place, Boris hosted a few supportive MPs in his Commons Study. The atmosphere was upbeat, even though they didn’t see what was about to happen. At 9pm Brady announced the Prime Minister had 211 votes in his favour, and 148 against — more than 40 per cent of the Parliamentary Party.
Boris and his team were shell‑shocked. Although Theresa May did much better during a 2018 confidence vote, she died six months later.
Boris came out fighting after surviving a confidence vote, describing the vote at Prime Minister’s questions that week as ‘decisive’
Even though Team Boris tried to be brave, they knew that it was going to end in disaster. Yet again there was a critical failure in the Whips’ operation. Once more the cry went out: ‘How did they get it so wrong?’
‘I’ll tell you how,’ said a veteran of the Margaret Thatcher leadership contest against Michael Heseltine in 1990. ‘They were complacent. Complacency led Mrs T to her demise in 1990. History repeated itself.’
Boris, nevertheless, came out fighting — as had been agreed with his team — describing the vote at Prime Minister’s questions that week as ‘decisive’; and since he had a majority, it was the end of the matter.
The reaction of his MPs was muted. It was an indication that his authority was beginning deteriorate.
Two days later Katharine Birbalsingh, the chairman of the government’s Social Mobility Commission, gave a little-noticed interview to The Guardian. She said that Boris’s personal life made her ‘raise an eyebrow’ and suggested ‘he was not a good role model’ for young people.
Birbalsingh is a former Levelling Up Secretary and is now a school headteacher. It was noted that her intervention was recorded in No. 10 was alarm. A plot was in progress?
‘Boris never trusted Gove after he withdrew support from him in the 2016 leadership contest,’ said the ally. ‘Was Gove up to his usual tricks and getting one of his allies to start testing the water? Scheming for Michael is like crack cocaine for an addict.’
There are other grounds for suspicion.
Rishi Sunak, who was elected Chancellor on February 2020 had been seeing Boris every Sunday night for catch up sessions. The two of them met, with no officials present, for an hour or so in Boris’s study or Sunak’s Downing Street flat. But just before the publication of civil servant Sue Gray’s report into ‘Partygate’ on May 25 this year, the meetings had ceased.
A source close to Boris said: ‘Rishi was avoiding the boss. Birbalsingh (an ally to Gove, who we know is close Rishi), attacked Boris unannounced. We were now on high alert.’
Katharine Birbalsingh (pictured), the chairman of the government’s Social Mobility Commission, said that Boris’s personal life made her ‘raise an eyebrow’ and suggested ‘he was not a good role model’ for young people in an interview with The Guardian
Even more troubling, on the same day as Birbalsingh’s interview, Lord Frost, who had resigned last year as Boris’s Brexit Secretary lamenting the drift away from true Conservatism, launched his own attack, warning Boris to raise his game.
‘Like the cockpit of a crashing airliner, the dashboard lights are all flashing red,’ he said. ‘The Government has to decide which problems must be dealt with now and which can be left until later.’
And then, as the rumbles on the backbenches increased in volume, Lord Geidt quit on June 15 as Boris’s ministerial ethics adviser.
In No. 10. Just days before, he asked the PM to extend his stay for an additional six months.
Boris looked at the opportunity to forget his troubles and went on a world-trotting trip of Commonwealth heads in government conference in Rwanda, G7 summit in Germany, and NATO summit.
These eight days in exile from Britain would mark the longest period of time in modern jet travel when any British prime minister was away from his country while Parliament was sitting.
Many members of his team begged him to not leave so much. ‘There are no votes in a Commonwealth conference,’ one of them told me. ‘But his mind was made up. He thought the trip would shore up his position by making sure he was seen parading on the world stage as an international statesman.’
The thing that really concerned Team Boris was the fact that in his first week away, there were 2 by-elections. One in Wakefield and one in Honiton.
The doctors warned him to stay close to home as bad results might result. The results proved disastrous. The Tories lost both seats, with Tiverton going to the Lib Dems with a swing of more than 30 per cent — and things were made worse by the resignation of Tory Chairman Oliver Dowden.
When the PM was in Rwanda, news broke of Dowden’s resignation. Boris was aware immediately of Dowden’s plan. Dowden was the first person to support Sunak’s candidacy for the leadership race. ‘Sunak’s people are circling the wagons,’ one of his officials remarked in Rwanda later.
Oliver Dowden resigned as Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party following the Conservative defeats at the Tiverton and Honiton by-election and Wakefield by-election
Boris was absent for an additional six days. He could not exercise any authority on his restive MPs.
Because he was away for so many years, there was an unfinished work load when he came back to Downing Street. Many appointments with the backbench MPs were cancelled which didn’t help. ‘It was another short-sighted decision. He should have been seeing more MPs not fewer, especially after those two bloody by-elections,’ said a supporter.
Sunak then gave more evidence that he was going to strike. Boris requested to meet with the Chancellor to discuss the content of the speech. It was to be a reset economic agenda.
The daily strategy meetings at No. 10, with Boris and other key officials, which began every morning at 8.30am. ‘By the time Sunak resigned he had been absent from these meetings for the best part of three weeks,’ said another trusted ally. ‘In hindsight, it was obvious what was going on. Boris used to joke: “Where’s Rishi? Has anyone seen Rishi?” Someone else would say: “Plotting”.’
The joke quickly wore out.
The PM basked in the glowing headlines that resulted from his week-long international statemanship for a few days. It seemed that his gamble had paid off.
Although he was happy, his officers tried to get him to meet Lord Frost so they could win him back after his critics. To no avail. ‘The boss never keeps in touch with anyone when they’ve gone. The shutters fall. It’s short-sighted.’ So it was to prove.
During this time, Chris Pincher, Deputy Chief Whip, made drunken lunges at 2 young men in the Carlton Club. Pincher quit and the Daily Mail made headlines for his lewd actions.
Heaton Harris, Chief Whip of the Tory party, maintained that he did not need the Tory whip to be taken from Heaton. Another fatal error. ‘Boris should have thrown Pincher under a bus. But he seemed to be protecting him. It was a doomed strategy,’ another associate told me.
Pincher with growing concerns about Tory backbenches was forced to withdraw the whip four days later.
Lord McDonald’s of Salford contacted Downing Street and told No. 10 that the PM had been briefed in person about Chris Pincher’s (pictured) past behaviour, and that the version of events being spun — that Boris had not known about it — was untrue
The weekend of July 2nd was the worst. Lord McDonald of Salford was the former Foreign Office official who contacted Downing Street and told No. 10 that the PM had been briefed in person about Pincher’s past behaviour, and that the version of events being spun — that Boris had not known about it — was untrue.
It was time to look at the past and make amends. Astonishingly, No. 10 did not do so.
The result was that, on Tuesday July 5, McDonald released a devastating letter to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Kathryn Stone, saying Downing Street was ‘still not telling the truth’ about Pincher. The letter was followed up by an interview with BBC TV. Lord Frost then called for his old political master to go, saying: ‘Boris should leave before he takes the Conservative Party down with him.’
This intervention caused shockwaves throughout the Party.
Boris was clearly rattled by No. Boris visited the Commons tea rooms, clearly agitated by No. However, he was embroiled with Mark Fletcher who is the Tory MP from Bolsover and had been there to witness Pincher’s performance at the Carlton Club.
Boris berated Fletcher, saying there were seven Tory MPs in the Carlton Club who had witnessed Pincher’s drunken antics. ‘Why didn’t they step in to stop Pincher?’ asked the PM.
A fair point — but Fletcher resigned later that day as a parliamentary aide, describing the PM’s response as ‘crass and insensitive’. The tea room clash was witnessed by 50 Tory MPs.
Sajid Javid the Health Secretary came by to visit Boris soon after. Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary came in to see Boris and informed him that he would be resigning later in the day. After the meeting, Boris asked his staff loudly how long it would take before the Chancellor resigned. It was soon discovered.
Javid’s resignation broke in the 6pm TV news. Sunak resigned nine minutes later. Boris was contacted minutes prior to the announcement.
Number 10. There was frantic activity as Boris tried to fill the gaps caused now by increasing numbers of ministerial resignations. Ten was frenetic activity, as Boris attempted to fill the gap created by increasing ministerial resignations.
A dozen were there by 9am the day after. Michael Gove, the Levelling Up Secretary who helped Boris prepare for Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), warned him he had lost the confidence of the Cabinet and should resign by 9pm or he, too, would quit.
Boris displayed a defiant display at PMQs’ dispatch box, but did not indicate that he intended to quit.
Sajid made a self-aggrandising — and somewhat underwhelming — personal statement in the Commons, the resignations continued and later that day a delegation of ministers went into No. 10, to urge Boris to resign.
Boris was also greeted by Priti Patel, the Home Secretary. She told Boris she believed he had finished but that she wouldn’t resign. ‘It was a moving conversation. She loves Boris and he loves her,’ said a supporter.
This was more than one-way traffic. Nadine Dorries (the Culture Secretary) and Jacob Rees Mogg (the Minister for Brexit Opportunities), went to him to say that he should stay and fight. Dorries said: ‘I was stunned that there were people who thought of removing the Prime Minister with the biggest majority since 1987. It was undemocratic. It was a coup.’
At No. On Wednesday night, tension was building at No. 10. Andrew Griffiths (MP for Arundel South Downs) threatened to close Downing Street and lock down those who tried to leave.
Boris attempted to rebuild a Cabinet while he was busy. To stop the assault, promotions were offered.
Two minutes ahead of the 9.30pm deadline, Gove called him at 8.58pm. ‘Are you resigning Prime Minister?’ asked Gove. To which Boris replied: ‘No, you are. You’re fired.’
Boris realized the game was over when he returned to his home at 10.30 pm. However, he was still going to sleep as a result of his resignation. Boris woke up the next morning at 5.30 AM and his resignation letter was completed by 6.30 am. He was greatly influenced by his wife Carrie.
The BBC reported at 9.09am that Boris was giving in to the inevitable, and was leaving.
Javid, whose resignation started the deluge, has since said: ‘I hope one day I can sit down with Boris and have a drink and I’ll look forward to it.’
But a drink with his former Health Secretary is now the last thing on Boris’s mind.