Status: 07/19/2022 1:56 p.m
The Tory group in the British Parliament has rid itself of an internal critic of Prime Minister Johnson: MP Ellwood was thrown out of the group. He had called for Johnson’s resignation and is considered a Brexit opponent.
After winning a vote of confidence in the British Parliament, an internal party critic of Boris Johnson was thrown out of the parliamentary group. Tobias Ellwood is no longer a member of the Tory Group, the Conservative Party said.
The reason for the ejection is that Ellwood was not present in the vote of confidence and had not voted. Ellwood, who chairs the Defense Committee, said he was unable to return to London in time from a visit to Moldova due to unforeseen travel restrictions. He very much regrets the loss of his membership.
Ellwood is one of the Tories’ last opponents of Brexit and recently vehemently called for Johnson’s replacement as prime minister. In a guest article for The Times, he also called for Britain to return to the EU internal market.
Conservatives wanted to avoid new elections
The British government itself called the vote of confidence and won as expected. A defeat would have meant a new election soon – and even Johnson’s opponents in the Tory party wanted to avoid that because of the currently poor poll numbers.
Meanwhile, the race to find Johnson’s successor is entering the next round. There are currently four candidates in the running. Most recently, Tom Tugendhat was eliminated, like Ellwood an opponent of Brexit and Johnson, who was therefore considered to have no chance. On Wednesday, after the last round of voting in the parliamentary group, two candidates should remain, on whom the party base should then vote.
In addition to favorite Rishi Sunak, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Secretary of State for Trade Penny Mordaunt and MP Kemi Badenoch are also in the running. It should be clear on September 5 who will succeed Johnson as party leader and head of government.