Boris Johnson faces a battle to stay in office this evening, with Tory MPs weighing up whether to support him in a vote of confidence.

So far, well over 100 have publicly said they will back him – but the ballot is held in secret and some may opt not to support the Prime Minister in private.

He is expected to win the contest, but needs 180 votes to do so – and the scale of any victory is crucial to his future prospects.

Allies of Mr Johnson insist he will carry on even if he wins by one vote.

But history suggests that PMs who survive confidence votes do not last long in office regardless, as the likes of former Tory leaders Theresa May, John Major and Margaret Thatcher show.

Rebels and Johnson allies alike will therefore be looking at the scale of the opposition to Mr Johnson, whose leadership has been battered by the partygate scandal and him becoming the first serving PM in office found to have broken the law.

The cabinet has fallen into line behind Mr Johnson, making former health secretary Jeremy Hunt perhaps the most prominent Tory to publicly say they will not back the PM.

The vote will take place between 6pm and 8pm in Westminster this evening. The ballots will then be counted and the results announced.

If Mr Johnson loses he will have to stand down and there will be a leadership contest. Metro.co.uk talks you through the main contenders here.

Were he to win, as expected, current rules dictate that the PM is safe from another vote for a year – but those rules could, in theory, be changed.

There may also be pressure, depending on the scale of the rebellion, for cabinet ministers and other key Tories to resign or tell the PM to stand down.

Mr Johnson has always insisted he will fight to the end.

Below is a list of those 114 MPs who say – in public at least – that they back him to do so.

MPs who have publicly backed the PM in tonight’s vote

Some 114 Tory MPs had said they would back the PM as of around 3.30pm this afternoon, they are:

• Sheryll Murray
• Rachel Maclean
• Simon Baynes
• James Cleverly
• Brendan Clarke-Smith

• Andrew Stephenson
• Paul Bristow
• Stuart Anderson
• Liz Truss
• Chris Clarkson

• Grant Shapps
• Jacob Young
• Sajid Javid
• Michael Fabricant
• James Duddridge

• Simon Clarke
• Joy Morrissey
• Mark Jenkinson
• Brandon Lewis
• Eddie Hughes

• Mark Pritchard
• Will Quince
• Oliver Dowden
• Rishi Sunak
• Alok Sharma

• Scott Benton
• Therese Coffey
• Dominic Raab
• Kwasi Kwarteng
• Jacob Rees-Mogg

• Michael Gove
• Tom Hunt
• Ben Wallace
• Alun Cairns
• James Morris

• Nadine Dorries
• Nigel Huddleston
• Marcus Jones
• Conor Burns
• Nadhim Zahawi

• James Sunderland
• Kit Malthouse
• Michelle Donelan
• Marco Longhi
• David TC Davies

• Steve Barclay
• Heather Wheeler
• Michael Ellis
• Gareth Bacon
• Natalie Elphicke

• Andrew Griffith
• Shaun Bailey
• Simon Hart
• Chris Philp
• Andrea Jenkyns

• Alister Jack
• Jack Lopresti
• Leo Docherty
• Graham Stuart
• Lia Nici

• Richard Fuller
• Shailesh Vara
• Alex Burghart
• Peter Bone
• Anne-Marie Trevelyan

• David Evennett
• Stephen McPartland
• Justin Tomlinson
• Alexander Stafford
• Neil O’Brien

• Suella Braverman
• Guy Opperman
• Tom Pursglove
• Wendy Morton
• Greg Hands

• Cherilyn Mackrory
• Amanda Milling
• George Eustice
• Kate Griffiths
• Robert Courts

• Jonathan Gullis
• Nick Fletcher
• Robert Courts
• Martin Vickers
• Lee Anderson

• Kemi Badenoch
• Paul Scully
• Steve Double
• Sarah Dines
• Ben Bradley

• Jason McCartney
• Mark Eastwood
• Suzanne Webb
• Helen Whately
• Amanda Solloway

• James Grundy
• Gordon Henderson
• Nigel Adams
• Christopher Chope
• Mark Fletcher

• Danny Kruger
• Mike Freer
• Bob Stewart
• Chris Heaton-Harris
• James Heappey

• Richard Holden
• Boris Johnson
• Caroline Johnson
• James Cartlidge
• Peter Gibson

• Julia Lopez
• Royston Smith
• Jake Berry
• Damian Hinds

Source: ConservativeHome

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