Hampshire MPs among 21 sacked from Conservative Party by Boris Johnson
Two Hampshire MPs were among the 21 who were sacked from the Conservative Party by the Prime Minister last night.
Boris Johnson made the move to remove the whip from rebels who voted against the government and backed a plan to take control of the Commons timetable to pass legislation to block a no-deal Brexit.
Caroline Nokes, the MP for Romsey and Southampton, and Steve Brine who is the MP for Winchester and Chandler's Ford were sacked following the vote last night.
Both had been Conservative MPs since the 2010 election, with Ms Nokes serving as immigration minister in Mrs May's government and Mr Brine being a former junior health minister.
Two former chancellors were also among the 21 MPs sacked last night, with Philip Hammond and Ken Clarke both being stripped of the whip.
Sir Nicholas Soames, Winston Churchill's grandson, was also dismissed as well as former Conservative Party leadership hopeful Rory Stewart and ex-cabinet minister David Gauke.
The Government lost the vote by a majority of 27 and MPs will now have the opportunity on Wednesday to pass legislation that would effectively take no-deal off the table.
Business Minister Kwasi Kwarteng defended the move.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: ‘It was very clearly stated that Conservative MPs would lose the whip.
‘Now 21 of them out of 312 - that is about 6 per cent - chose to vote against the Government and they had the whip withdrawn.
‘I think it is a shame - a lot of them are very talented people. But you cannot have people standing as Conservative MPs when they are against the Government's policy on the key issue of the day.’