SIR Graham Brady has declined to tell The Messenger how his ballot was cast in a vote of confidence in Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The MP for Altrincham and Sale West, who is also the chairman of the Conservative Party's 1922 Committee, was the one to announce the vote in a statement outside the Houses of Parliament on the morning of Monday, June 6.

Mr Johnson won the vote of confidence by a margin of 58.8 per cent to 41.2 per cent, but 148 Conservative MPs opposed him over issues such as Sue Gray's report into breaches of coronavirus restrictions at 10 Downing Street.

There were no abstentions, which means Sir Graham must have taken a stance on the Prime Minister. But to convince his colleagues of 'fairness and confidentiality', he has declined to tell The Messenger how his ballot was cast.

He said: "In order to give my colleagues assurance that I will run a rigorously fair and confidential process, I have not commented publicly on the outcome of the vote, or revealed how my own ballot was cast."

Sir Graham did not reveal the number of letters received to trigger the confidence vote, which must have been at least 54, or at what time over the last few weeks and months most of the letters were submitted.

Nor did the MP comment on the potential impact of the confidence vote on supporters of the Conservative Party in Altrincham and Sale West, who reelected him with a comfortable 48 per cent of the vote at the last general election.