Boris Johnson no-confidence vote live: PM suffers bigger rebellion than Theresa May – as 41% of his own MPs have no confidence

Former Conservative party leader William Hague has given his reflection on today’s result and what he believes it should mean for Boris Johnson’s premiership.

Writing in The Times, Lord Hague says there is “no single policy that has turned much of his party” against Boris Johnson, as was the case with the poll tax and Margaret Thatcher or Theresa May’s Brexit deal.

Lord Hague says that “it is clear that a fair number of MPs on the ministerial payroll joined this rebellion in the privacy of the polling booth”, noting former minister Jesse Norman’s letter as proving “the disaffection within the party is deep and anguished”.

He continues: “The nature of their revolt has an important bearing on what happens next. 

“They are not a faction that has been seen off, or an alternative policy direction that has been defeated. They represent instead a widespread feeling, a collapse of faith, that almost certainly cannot be repaired or reversed.”

Lord Hague says “a fairly narrow victory for Boris Johnson is not the defeat of a rival faction, or the squashing of an alternative candidate, but rather the fending off of a gathering feeling of hopelessness”.

He concludes: “For Johnson, continuing to lead the party after such a revolt will prove to be unsustainable.”