Senior Tory urges PM to call confidence vote if local elections go badly

Tobias Ellwood says Boris Johnson owes it to the party and that Putin could exploit his law-breaker image

Boris Johnson should hold a vote of confidence to confirm his leadership after the conclusion of the police investigation into parties at No 10 and if local elections go badly for the Conservatives, a Tory MP has said.

Tobias Ellwood, the chair of the Commons defence committee, warned that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, could exploit" the prime minister's image as a law-breaker following the fixed-penalty notices for attending parties in No 10.

Ellwood, the MP for Bournemouth East, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: I think the prime minister has made his intentions clear - he wants to stay - but this is bigger than the prime minister."

He said that since the scandal risked harming the party's reputation, Johnson owed it to the parliamentary party to hold a vote of confidence.