Wells MP James Heappey has come out in support of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The news broke this morning that the Prime Minister would be facing a confidence vote this evening, but the defence minister and Tory MP for the Wells constituency was keeping his cards close to his chest.

Now he has posted on Twitter, setting out his position.

A ballot will be held between 6pm and 8pm this evening, Monday (June 6). The votes will be counted immediately and an announcement will be made at a time to be advised with more details to be released later today.

If Johnson survives the vote of confidence there will be a period of a year before another ballot could be held. The 58-year-old only needs to win the ballot by a single vote to remain in charge of the country - yet if even if the Eton-educated PM does win commentators believe that his leadership could still be threatened given what happened to previous incumbent Theresa May. Previous MP May won the ballot quite comfortably but rebels eventually forced her out of office within six months.

Further back, John Major faced a vote of no confidence in the mid 1990s - but despite wining he was routed at the 1997 General Election.

The procedure means the PM was advised of the situation yesterday. It is a believed that a number of Tory MPs asked that the news would be released after the Queen's Platinum Jubilee weekend.