Now Boris calls a confidence vote in his OWN government for Monday after dismissing Labour bid to force a showdown because Keir Starmer bungled the wording

• Boris Johnson to table a confidence motion in caretaker Government on Monday
• PM planning to ask the Commons if it still has confidence in his administration 
• It follows row between No10 and Labour about Keir Starmer’s own bungled bid

Boris Johnson has tabled a motion of confidence in his outgoing Government following a row over Labour’s plans for a ‘stunt’ vote.

The Prime Minister, who is set to leave office on 6th September, is planning to ask the House of Commons on Monday if it still has confidence in his caretaker administration.

It comes after Labour bungled an attempt to force a Commons showdown on whether Mr Johnson still commands a majority.

Sir Keir Starmer had wanted to hold a vote on whether MPs still had faith in the Government under Mr Johnson.

But Downing Street refused to allow such a vote – despite convention being that the Government always grants parliamentary time for a confidence motion from the official opposition party – as they claimed it did not follow the standard format.

They accused Labour of ‘playing politics’  and wasting parliamentary time by specifically targeting Mr Johnson with their proposed vote – when he has already announced his resignation. 

Labour hit back and claimed No10 was dodging their version of a confidence vote because they feared losing it.

The Government is now planning to table their own motion to ask the Commons whether ‘this House has confidence in Her Majesty’s Government’.

If the Tories fail to win a vote on the confidence motion, which is due to be debated on Monday, it could trigger a general election.

But it is unlikely that Conservative MPs would choose to bring down their own Government while the contest to replace Mr Johnson in No10 is already underway.

Boris Johnson is planning to ask the House of Commons on Monday if they have confidence in his caretaker administration

Sir Keir Starmer had wanted to hold a vote on whether MPs still had faith in the Government under Mr Johnson – but No10 rejected the wording of his motion

 If the Tories fail to win a vote on the confidence motion it could trigger a general election. But it is unlikely that Conservative MPs would choose to bring down their own Government while the contest to replace Mr Johnson in No10 is already underway

A Government spokeswoman said: ‘Labour were given the option to table a straightforward vote of no confidence in the Government in keeping with convention, however they chose not to.

‘To remedy this we are tabling a motion which gives the House the opportunity to decide if it has confidence in the Government.

‘The Government will always allow time for appropriate House matters whilst ensuring that it delivers parliamentary business to help improve people’s everyday lives.’

Labour have pressed for a confidence vote as a means of daring Tory MPs to put on record their support for Mr Johnson continuing as PM until his successor is elected.

Many Conservatives had initially been angered by Mr Johnson’s intention to remain in No10 in a caretaker role for a number of weeks yet.

The PM’s downfall came after vast swathes of Tory MPs turned against him, which also saw a torrent of resignations from Mr Johnson’s Government.

Labour today insisted their original motion should have been accepted by Downing Street. 

A Labour spokesman said: ‘The motion that we tabled was in order, the clerks ruled it in order, we had precedent based on the 1965 vote of no confidence there was with Ted Heath and Harold Wilson.

‘If the Government wants to table a different motion, that’s obviously up to them.

‘But what’s clear is that the Government was concerned it would lose the vote on the motion that we had put forward, otherwise why are they putting forward this alternative motion on Monday?

‘We look forward to the dozens of Conservative MPs who have already expressed no confidence in Boris Johnson in writing to vote accordingly next week because to do anything else would be brazen hypocrisy.’

Labour could still try to amend the new motion to reflect their original wording, a move the Liberal Democrats said they would make.

Lib Dem chief whip Wendy Chamberlain said: ‘These are desperate tactics from the Conservatives, who are looking to duck scrutiny for propping up Boris Johnson.

‘Conservative MPs risk a major public backlash if they refuse to back this motion.’

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