Navtej Johal
Reporting from West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire

Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire has a lot of engaged voters - the turnout in the 2019 general election was 78.5%, which was more than 10% higher than the national turnout. That may explain why almost everyone I have stopped today has had a view on the prime minister’s predicament.

However, that doesn’t mean they all agree. This may be a solid Tory seat, but opinion appears to be split on whether Boris Johnson should remain.

Hilary Graham, 77, from West Bridgford, says she has been a Conservative voter for many years. She told me: “I think he needs to go because he’s lied. He lied to the government and he lied to the population when he said there were no parties and no rules were broken.”

On the other hand, Jitendra Bhundia, 75, from Wilford Village, believes Tory MPs should back the PM tonight. He says: “I like him and I think he’s looking after the country well… He has paid his fine so I think he should remain."

Image source, Getty Images

Douglas Ross, who is the MP for Moray as well as an MSP, is one of six Scottish Tory MPs who are able to vote on Monday night.

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack has said he fully supports Boris Johnson.

The other four Tory MPs with Scottish constituencies have not publicly stated how they will vote.

And as it's a secret ballot, the public may never find out whether they gave Mr Johnson their backing or not.

But Ruth Davidson, the former Scottish Conservative leader, has already said Mr Johnson's position is untenable.

On Monday, she said Tory MP Jesse Norman was right to withdraw his support, external of the PM after accusing Mr Johnson of presiding "over a culture of casual law-breaking" in relation to Downing Street parties.

Read more here.

Scottish Tory leader has completed a double U-turnpublished at 18:07 British Summer Time 6 June 2022

18:07 BST 6 June 2022

Glenn Campbell
BBC Scotland Political Editor

Image source, Getty Images

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross has said he will vote against Boris Johnson in this evening's confidence motion.

This is the second time Mr Ross has changed his position on the future of the PM.

He has completed a double U-turn tonight.

In January he was in the sack Boris Johnson camp.

He was one of the first and most prominent figures in the Conservative Party to say that Boris Johnson's position had become untenable and that he should go.

He put in a letter calling for the sort of vote that's under way.

But he withdrew that letter, changed his position and decided he would, after all, continue to back Boris Johnson when war broke out in Ukraine, arguing that stability was more important than anything during an international crisis.

Now he has flipped position again and decided that given that there is a confidence vote he is not able in good faith to support Boris Johnson.

Read more here.

Conservative MPs have begun voting in a secret ballot that will show if they still have confidence in the prime minister.

It follows rows over lockdown parties, splits over economic policy, and divisions over Boris Johnson's leadership style.

It's taking place in one of Parliament’s committee rooms over the next two hours - with the result due at 21:00 BST.

Johnson needs to win backing from at least 180 Tory MPs - presuming everyone votes - to remain in his job.

The BBC's political research unit places the number of Conservative MPs pledging publicly to support Boris Johnson in the confidence vote at 131.

The prime minister needs 180 votes to get over the line - if every MP votes.

The ballot, taking place in one of Parliament's committee rooms between 18:00 and 20:00 BST, will be a secret one. And we'll know the outcome at 21:00.

A win for Johnson will not necessarily restore his authoritypublished at 17:44 British Summer Time 6 June 2022

17:44 BST 6 June 2022

Chris Mason
Political editor

Confidence votes are always bad news for political leaders.

They indicate internal unrest. They provoke bouts of public anger among MPs.

And history suggests even winning a vote often marks the beginning of the end.

Theresa May secured the support of two-thirds of her colleagues in the Commons. She was out six months later.

Two-and-a-half years ago Boris Johnson led the Conservatives to a stonking general election victory, the party securing 13.9 million votes.

He's now reduced to chasing every single vote among his colleagues, desperate to suppress the number who vote against him.

For while the arithmetic is one thing tonight (he is widely expected to win), the politics is another. Johnson will forever haul around with him the number of Conservative MPs who, in the privacy of the voting booth, label him a liability.

The Tory party too will wear the wounds of this tussle - the venom spat out openly today towards Jeremy Hunt exposing the poison these moments often unleash.

This all means means even victory tonight for Johnson is not likely to be the end of this.

A mathematical win is far from the same as restoring authority. That will remain a colossal challenge.

A senior Tory source tells the PA Media agency the PM took five questions at the meeting with MPs, two of which were "hostile" - while the other three were not.

The source said Sir Charles Walker, the MP for Broxbourne, told the PM "at times you've driven me absolutely wild", which drew "a big laugh".

Sir Charles was said to have added that he accepted Johnson's apology - and warned colleagues that "defenestrating a PM is a brutal, bloody, shocking, horrible, terrible thing".

But former Conservative chief whip Mark Harper said if Johnson stayed he would be asking MPs to "defend the indefensible".

The prime minister rejected this "very, very aggressively", PA was told.

Labour's shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, says he hopes Conservative MPs will "act in the national interest tonight and vote to get rid of Boris Johnson".

"It's not just his lying over Partygate, it's not just that Downing Street left the cleaning staff to clean up the vomit and to bin the bottles, it's not just that they abused the security staff," Ashworth tells the BBC.

"People are skint out there, people's wage packets are no longer stretching and we've got half a million fewer people in work than we did pre-pandemic.

"[Johnson] has got no answers for the questions facing the country and I think the country will better served with Boris Johnson ousted as PM."

Here's a quick rundown of what's happening in the next few hours:

• Tory MPs vote from 18:00 to 20:00 BST on whether they have confidence in Boris Johnson as party leader
• The result will be announced at 21:00
• If Johnson gets the backing of more than 50% of the MPs who vote, he stays on and can't face another confidence vote for at least a year
• If he loses, he has to go and can't run in the Tory leadership contest that a vote of no confidence triggers
• Follow the latest goings on here on our live page, on the BBC News Channel and BBC 5 Live

Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke has claimed the Tory Party is "not divided" ahead of giving her support for Boris Johnson in a confidence vote this evening.

Disagreeing that the vote is due to a lack of confidence in the PM, Elphicke argued the reason for it is to "make sure that the views can be held and then we can come and unite behind the prime minister", she told the BBC.

Asked how Johnson can unite the party if he wins, she said: “I don’t agree that it’s a divided party. I think there are decisions to be made and there are a range of views.

“I believe that is what will happen because the confidence vote will be held. People have had their say and then we can move forward.”

David Wallace Lockhart
BBC political correspondent

Conservative MPs will descend on one of Parliament’s committee rooms to vote between 18:00 and 20:00 BST.

They’ll be subjected to a one-way system, entering through one door and leaving via another.

Their phones will have to be handed in while they vote. When Theresa May faced a confidence ballot, a couple of pictures were taken by MPs keen to have a memento (or perhaps proof) of how they voted. Officials want to avoid a repeat of this.

Voting will take place inside screened booths, so no-one can peek.

The ballot paper is simple. It will ask MPs whether or not they have confidence in Boris Johnson as Conservative leader. Voters will select one of two boxes on their anonymous slip.

Some MPs aren’t at Parliament at the moment, including some ministers abroad on government business. Absentees can nominate an MP to vote on their behalf.

Votes will be counted by officers of the 1922 Committee in the room in which they were cast. Then Sir Graham will make his way to another committee room to announce the result.

The prime minister will be informed of the result shortly before it’s made public.

The ballot papers will then be destroyed. Last time round, they ended up in a shredder.

Image source, .

Image source, Getty Images

Stormont minister and former DUP leader Edwin Poots has said a large vote against Boris Johnson could have an impact on possible legislation for the UK to scrap parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

It was thought a bill to override parts of the post-Brexit trading arrangements between Northern Ireland and Britain could be published this week.

"Obviously, if there's a large rebellion against the prime minister, that may have an impact," Poots said.

"We'll wait and see what happens. But we'll deal with whatever circumstances we encounter."

Poots declined to express a preference for Conservative leader, saying it was a matter for the party and that the DUP - who supported Theresa May's Conservative government after the 2017 election - would deal with whoever was in post.

We reported earlier on how public support for the prime minister seems to have waned in recent months.

Now top pollster Professor Sir John Curtice tells Drivetime on BBC Radio Scotland that, so far as voters are concerned, a couple of polls on the future of the PM today suggest nothing has changed.

"Before today, the polls were saying on average that 60% of voters thought that the prime minister should go. That included around a third of those who voted Conservative in 2019."

And of the two polls today, one says 60% say the PM should go - and the other one says 59% want him to go.

David Wallace Lockhart
BBC political correspondent

So what did the prime minister say when he addressed Tory MPs a short while ago?

The BBC has learned that Boris Johnson promised to "lead you to victory again” and warned against descending into a "pointless fratricidal debate" about the future of the Conservative Party.

He also urged MPs to “refuse to gratify our opponents by turning in on ourselves”.

A senior party source said the PM had received a big cheer when he said they should not “dance to the tune of the media”.

Conservative MP for Bassetlaw in Nottinghamshire, Brendan Clarke-Smith, was listening to the PM as he addressed his colleagues this afternoon.

He tells the BBC "the prime minister acknowledged people’s concerns, but he also said about the vision for the future, and how this kind of naval-gazing is not really benefiting anybody".

Clarke-Smith said some MPs questioned the PM over Partygate and "issues around integrity and trust".

He says people were supporting Johnson, and "there were a lot of claps, cheers for the prime minister". He adds he thinks Johnson will win the vote tonight.

Douglas Ross has just announced he will not support the prime minister in the vote, which begins in just over an hour...

One of those calling for Boris Johnson to go - Brexiteer Steve Baker - left before the end of the meeting.

He told the BBC the PM had "risen to the occasion" and made a "strong case" for remaining in power.

Baker added that Johnson is likely to win the confidence vote later - but he'll still be casting his ballot against the PM.

Our political correspondent has just passed Boris Johnson in Parliament...

The Sue Gray report on lockdown gatherings held in and around Downing Street may have provided the catalyst for today's vote - but grievances with the PM stretch back much further, as these charts show.

When members of the public were asked how Boris Johnson was doing as prime minister just over a month ago, 68% of those questioned told polling firm YouGov they believed he was doing badly. 26% said he was doing well.

Image source, .

The PM's net favourability rating - the difference between those people who think he's doing a good job and those who think he's performing badly - has been in negative territory for some time.

It currently stands at -45 points, according to figures compiled by YouGov, having dipped as far as -52 at the start of the year.

Image source, .

How the mood of the country will affect Conservative MPs remains to be seen.

Johnson needs at least 180 of his MPs to back him today - presuming everyone votes - if he's to survive the vote of confidence in his leadership.

The ballot is secret - and we won't know the result until 21:00.

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

The prime minister has entered the room to the customary banging of desks...