Ellwood withdrew the whip as punishment on Tuesday after he failed to take part in Monday’s vote of confidence in the government. The chairman of the defense select committee claimed he was unable to return from a meeting with the president of Moldova due to “unprecedented disruption”. The removal of the whip meant that Mr Ellwood, a long-time critic of Boris Johnson, could not vote in the party’s leadership ballot on Tuesday, so Kemi Badenoch was ruled out of the contest. Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player 0:39 The MP made a “serious mistake” by not voting But this afternoon it was confirmed that Mr Ellwood, who is in Odessa, has had his whip temporarily restored and will be able to vote by proxy. This means that another person will be able to vote for their preferred candidate, Trade Secretary Penny Mordaunt. “I am pleased to report that my request for the immediate return of the whip has been granted – just enough to cast my proxy vote!” Mr Ellwood posted on social media. A spokesman for the Whips’ Office said they had “taken a neutral position” on the leadership contest. They continued: “After Tobias Ellwood MP failed to attend an important vote, he suspended the Conservative Party whip. “To ensure that the neutrality of the Whips Office in the leadership contest cannot be challenged, the Whip has been temporarily suspended by Tobias Ellwood MP. “Following the conclusion of today’s leadership contest, MP Tobias Ellwood will have the whip suspended.” Truss and Mordan battle for the last two – the latter a politician Speaking earlier about the conflict within the Tory party, Mr Ellwood told Sky News: “The nation wants to be impressed and inspired, not discouraged.” He added: “We need to perhaps show more decorum, lower the temperature a bit, present the ideas, the vision, focus on those things that are important that the nation wants to see.” He warned that without an end to Conservative infighting “we’re just going to be disillusioned and indeed, we’re going to be locked in opposition for a long time”. Mr Ellwood also disputed the claim that he did not acknowledge the whips’ appeal for him to return, telling Kay Burley: “I didn’t ignore it at all, I kept the whips’ office informed all the time.” He added that runways that had melted in the UK due to the heatwave and security issues in Moldova both affected his return journey. Mr Ellwood said he was deeply sorry to lose the whip and hoped it would only be temporary. “I’m very sorry I didn’t come back,” he added. Mr Ellwood told Sky News he did not want to speculate on why he specifically lost the whip and whether or not he would have lost it if he had been a supporter of Liz Truss, rather than Ms Mordaunt. “Then I would feed blue-into-blue [attacks]which I’m actually trying to avoid,” he said. “Let’s focus on how we can move forward and make sure we finish this leadership campaign to the highest professional standards that I think the British people want to see.” However, speaking to Sky News earlier, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke defended the government’s initial decision to strip Ellwood of the Tory whip, saying the senior MP had made a “very serious mistake”. “He was in Moldova, not Ukraine. He wasn’t on government work, he’s a backroom MP,” Mr Clarke said. He also suggested that Mr Ellwood knew the consequences of not voting. “Look, I’m not a member of the whip’s office. What I will say is that there are clear arrangements that all MPs understand that govern the conditions for absenteeism, particularly critical votes like the motion of confidence in the government, which it has the potential to trigger a general election,” Mr Clarke said. Ellwood was not the only Tory MP to miss Monday’s confidence vote, but a Tory source said on Tuesday that all other Tory MPs who were absent for reasons such as family illness were appropriately paired as agreed by the whips – which means another person voted for pardon. “Other Tory MPs canceled trips abroad, left unwell relatives and one MP’s mother died on the morning of the vote and still attended and voted,” the Tory source said. Losing the whip essentially means that an MP is expelled from their party because they have not followed strict instructions from the leadership. They do not lose their seat and remain MPs – but sit as independents in the commons until the whip is restored. Ms Mordaunt is seen as the biggest challenger to Ms Truss, who is being backed by Johnson’s allies to make it to the bottom two running for Number 10. MPs voted by 349 to 238, a majority of 111, to back the motion declaring the Commons has confidence in the government on Monday night. The victory means Mr Johnson is expected to continue in Downing Street until September, when Tory MPs choose the winner from the final two chosen by Tory MPs.
