(Kitco News) - The U.K. governing party the Conservatives (Tories) are voting tonight to see if the party wants the current Prime Minister Boris Johnson to remain its leader. The vote will be held between 18:00 and 20:00 BST on Monday. To trigger this kind of action, at least 15% of sitting MPs have to write a letter saying they no longer have confidence in their leader. Given that there are currently 359 Conservative MPs, this works out as 54 MPs.
This is not unusual as there was a "no-confidence vote" against Theresa May in December 2018. Despite winning the vote she resigned six months later. This was all triggered after the "party gate" scandal. This is where Johnson and other party members flouted the rules imposed themselves during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was not only once that the Tories broke lockdown rules as other party members had been caught breaking the rules and left the political leaders.
Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab calls the confidence vote a distraction. Tory MPs should avoid a "period of massive uncertainty" and allow ministers to "get on with the job". Raab predicts a "very clear" mandate for Johnson to continue - and a "large majority" in his favor - when the ballot is held this evening.
Elsewhere, UK Health Minister Javid said it is likely that something like a confidence vote in PM Johnson will happen. He then added "I don’t know if the threshold will be reached for a confidence vote in PM Johnson.
GBP/USD has reacted positively to the news with the pair trading 0.60% higher on Monday. Also, money markets are betting on a half a point hike by December from the Bank of England.
