Vote of no confidence awaits Cameron after 30 MPs sign letters

A prominent backbench rebel MP, who desired not to be named, unveiled to the Huffington Post UK that the number of MPs calling for the vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister is “into the 30s now”.

The vote of no confidence needs some 46 letters signed by MPs to be implemented at the House of Commons.

"Under Conservative Party rules a leadership election is triggered if 15% of Conservative MPs call for a no confidence vote in the leader.
They do this by sending letters to the chairman of the party's backbench 1922 committee - currently Graham Brady”, according to the report.

"There are currently 304 Tory MPs in the Commons, so 46 of them would need to want to get rid of Cameron for a no confidence vote to be triggered", the report added.

The stunning claim that the number of signed letters in Brady's possession has now crossed 30 will put renewed pressure on the prime minister, who has been battling with cabinet colleagues, rebellious backbenchers and disgruntled activists over the twin issues of Europe and same-sex marriage.

This comes as a recent YouGov poll for The Sun newspaper put the Tories on 29%, 13 points behind Labour.

The senior Conservative backbencher told HuffPost UK that the number could reach 46 and force a no confidence vote if "post the party conference [in October], we are still [polling] in the 20s."

Under the Conservative Party's leadership rules, devised by former leader (and current foreign secretary) William Hague, if Cameron were to win the support of a simple majority of MPs in a no confidence vote, he would remain party leader and no further vote could be called for another 12 months. But if the PM were to lose, he would have to resign as Tory leader and would be barred from standing in a future leadership election.