Oh dear. It seems that Tobias Ellwood has slipped up one too many times. On Monday night he posted a video declaring that Afghanistan under the Taliban has become a ‘country transformed’ with ‘security vastly improved, ‘corruption reduced’, the ‘opium trade ended’. An immediate outcry followed, with a furious Mark Francois raising the matter at PMQs on Wednesday. Ellwood apologised on Piers Morgan’s TalkTV show and subsequently deleted the video but the damage was done.
Four members of the Defence Select Committee – Kevan Jones, Mark Francois, Derek Twigg and Richard Drax – have now tabled and published a confidence motion in him, meaning a vote will take place in September after the summer recess following ten sitting days in parliament. It’s the first time the device has been used against a select committee chair since elections for the posts began in 2010. Those MPs hostile towards Ellwood are confident that they have the numbers to remove him.
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