Last Monday many MPs took part in a discussion that was followed by a vote of Confidence in Her Majesty’s Government. All but one of our Sussex MPs voted, the one that did not was Nusrat Ghani from Wealden. The other 15 Sussex MPs voted, with only three that lack confidence in the Government. These three MPs represent Brighton and Hove and are members of the Labour or the Green Party. The other 12 Conservative MPs appear to have confidence in their government even though it is still being controlled by Boris Johnson. Yet several days earlier he resigned because of his many mistakes and a significant number of dishonest decisions. Although he stated to resign, he is continuing as our Prime Minister because apparently there is no one that is prepared to replace him until a new Prime Minister is elected. As most of us are aware there are now two MPs who have been selected to potentially be appointed as the next Prime Minister. However they are both currently members of the Government and have been Ministers within Johnsons Government for several years. There was at least one obvious person who could have taken over the Government to replace the resigning, Boris Johnson. Dominic Raab is the Deputy Prime Minister and it seems very strange that he did not take over the Government on the 7th of July.

Along with the votes that took place last Monday involving 15 of our 16 MPs there was also conversations during the discussion from four of our MPs. One of them set out to speak but sadly she was prevented from doing so by another Conservative MP. This was Mims Davies, from Mid Sussex who had been a Minister until the day before Boris Johnson resigned. Whilst many people would have questioned why all of the Conservative Ministers did not resign much earlier and indeed some did resign much earlier, Mims Davies is the only Sussex Minister who resigned prior to Johnson’s resignation. She should be acknowledged for that significant decision. However, the fact that she voted in favour of the confidence of the Government that is still being managed by the resigned Prime Minister suggests that she was not as seriously opposed to him as some of us may have expected. However, the fact that two significant Ministers Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid that resigned prior to Mims Davies also voted in favour of the Government suggests that this voting process was rather strange. Along with Mims Davies who tried to speak, there are two other Sussex Conservative MPs who spoke during the debate. The first speech came from Peter Bottomley from West Worthing. One of the themes he raised was “not to say that the Government have got everything right” and he went on to say

I want them to drop the privatisation of Channel 4, as there is no point in it, and I want them to reconsider the question of whether the Holocaust Memorial should be in Victoria Tower Gardens. There are a number of other issues that I could take up.

However, he continued with these words at the end of his speech “The issue today is: do we want to change the party of Government and the answer is no. I rest my case there.” Sadly he began by criticising the Labour Party and focusing on what happened in 2016 when there was a vote against Jeremy Corbyn and he went on to criticise Corbyn because his Party lost votes in December 2019. The other Sussex Conservative MP who spoke was Sally-Ann Hart from Hastings and Rye who began with this statement

I thank the Prime Minister for his dedication to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, his aspiration for all in this country, and his expectation that we can achieve great things as individuals and as a country. This Conservative Government, working as a team, have delivered hundreds of achievements over the past two and half years.

Which indicates clearly why she voted for the Government. The Sussex MP who voted against the Government and also spoke was Caroline Lucas from Brighton Pavilion. Caroline stated

Every single MP on the Government Benches who stood by the current Prime Minister while he dissembled and denigrated his way through two and half years is implicated in his offences. Every one of them who stood by while the partying happened, while the attempts to cover up bullying in the Home Office happened and while the rules were being changed to protect their mates while sexual harassment was being brushed under the carpet, is complicit.

These words arose a few minutes before the voting took place and sadly none of the Sussex Conservative MPs apart from possibly Nusrat Ghani took these very clear words seriously.