Crawley MP urged to call for Boris Johnson’s resignation

In an open letter published today (January 19), Peter Lamb asked Henry Smith to write to the chairman of the 1922 Committee in the wake of the ongoing Downing Street party row.

If 15 per cent of Tory MPs do the same, a leadership contest would be triggered.

Calling on Mr Smith to ‘put the country first, do the right thing’, Mr Lamb said: “Throughout the pandemic, residents in Crawley and across the country have accepted great sacrifices in order to save lives and protect the NHS – and yet it now transpires that the very man setting the rules is unwilling to abide by them.

“As a Conservative MP, you are the only person in Crawley with the power to do what your constituents expect to be done, by writing to the chairman of the 1922 Committee and commencing the process for selecting a new Prime Minister.

“I appreciate that this will be the second time in almost as many years you have supported a candidate for leader you later had to help remove from office and that it raises questions about your judgement, but be in no doubt that failing to act will in the eyes of the community be seen as complicity in the rule-breaking.”

Mr Smith is currently out of the country on Parliamentary business, announcing on social media that he would be un-contactable.

When asked earlier this month about the Downing Street party, he said he was ‘concerned’.

He added: “What I want to see is clarity from the government over what is reported to have taken place and a conclusion to any and all investigations as fully and as swiftly as possible.

“More widely; while I was elected on the Conservative Party manifesto at the 2019 General Election, this has not stopped me from speaking out when I believe government has got things wrong and the slightest look at my voting record clearly demonstrates that, if it is in the interests of people in Crawley, then I do not support the government in the Commons, whether that be recent examples on Covid-19 measures, Universal Credit reductions or National Insurance increases.”