MP for Eddisbury among 21 Tories stripped of party whip
Antoinette Sandbach, the Conservative MP for Eddisbury, has been stripped of the party whip after voting against Boris Johnson's Government last night.
The Cheshire MP is one of 21 Tory rebels who joined opposition parties in voting to take control of business in the Commons later today. A total of 328 to 301 MPs voted in favour of the move.
The result of the vote, which is part of a bid to stop the UK from crashing out of the EU without a deal on October 31, means MPs can now bring forward a bill seeking a delay to the Brexit date if no agreement has been reached.
Taking to social media following last night's events, Ms Sandbach said that though it was hard to vote against the Government, ''there are critical times when you have to do what is right, no matter what the personal consequences.''
Conservative MPs had been warned ahead of last night's vote that would-be rebels would have the party whip withdrawn. However, Ms Sandbach accused Mr Johnson of hypocrisy for twice rebelling by voting against Theresa May's Withdrawal Agreement. Speaking ahead of the vote, Ms Sandbach told Sky News:
"I find it staggeringly hypocritical that he's threatening to take the whip away.If that had happened to him when he voted against Theresa May's deal, he wouldn't have had the opportunity to stand to be Prime Minister of this country."
Boris Johnson said he will now seek to trigger a snap general election after losing last night's vote.