Tory MSP says result of Johnson confidence vote leaves ‘dark shadow’ over party

The chief whip for the Scottish Conservatives at Holyrood has said the result of Monday’s vote of confidence in the Prime Minister has left a “dark shadow” looming over the party.

Stephen Kerr was speaking on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme on Tuesday morning, after Tory MPs took to a secret ballot to decide the fate of party leader Boris Johnson.

Mr Johnson avoided being ousted as leader and Prime Minister by a majority of 63 votes, with 211 of his MPs at Westminster giving their backing against 148 rebels.

Mr Kerr, the Tory MSP for the Central Scotland region, said the “damaged” Prime Minister now needed to reflect on the result.

“I think what we saw last night in the vote, 148 expressing their lack of confidence in the Prime Minister, is simply a reflection of the deep anger that is felt across the country and particularly within the Conservative Party about the disclosures of the last few months,” Mr Kerr said.

“The Prime Minister now needs to reflect very carefully on this result.”

The MSP said that “politically, undoubtedly, he (Mr Johnson) is damaged” by the outcome of the vote, but said he could not predict how long the Prime Minister will remain in his position.

He added that the results are “not good for the Conservative Party in general”.

“The Government’s trying to do some very good and worthy things, and this whole issue of the Prime Minister’s leadership is like a dark shadow over all of the good things that the Government is doing,” Mr Kerr said.

But he downplayed suggestions that a snap general election could be called in the aftermath of the ballot, pointing to recent opinion polls placing the Tories in second place behind Labour.

Ian Murray, Labour MP for Edinburgh South, said it is “now a matter of when he (Mr Johnson) will go, rather than if”.

Mr Murray told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme that a snap election would be the “best way forward”.

“If Boris Johnson thinks after last night’s vote he can command the respect and support of the country, then why doesn’t he take the short trip to Buckingham Palace, request that the Parliament and Government is dissolved, and go to the country and let the people decide?” Mr Murray said.

“That would be the best way to resolve this situation.”

The Labour MP said tabling a motion of no confidence on behalf of opposition parties could risk “undermining” the impact of 148 Tory MPs voting against their leader.

The 148 who said they did not have confidence in Mr Johnson included four of the six Scottish Conservative MPs at Westminster.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross, Andrew Bowie, John Lamont and David Mundell were among those who voted against Mr Johnson.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the result was the “worst of all worlds for the Tories”, calling the Prime Minister a “lame duck” after it emerged just two MPs north of the border backed his leadership.

“At a time of huge challenge, it saddles the UK with an utterly lame duck PM,” Ms Sturgeon tweeted on Monday night.

“And for Scotland, it just underlines the democratic deficit – only two of 59 (Scottish) MPs have confidence in the PM.”