Submitting a vote of no confidence in Boris Johnson was "a very difficult decision", a Conservative MP from Bradford district has said.

Philip Davies (Shipley, Conservative) was one of 148 MPs who voted to remove the Prime Minister's position in Monday's leadership ballot.

But now, he says, it is time for Government and the British public to accept Mr Johnson "won the vote fair and square". 

It is not known at this time whether the MP's Conservative colleague Robbie Moore (Keighley and Ilkley) voted for or against Mr Johnson.

In a statement to the T&A, Mr Davies said: "Last night I had a very difficult decision to make and it was not one I took lightly.  

"I voted against the Prime Minister for a number of reasons in the vote of confidence.

"However, the Prime Minister won the vote fair and square and - as a democrat - I fully accept the result of the ballot.

"It is now imperative we focus on pursuing good Conservative policies - like cutting taxes and controlling immigration - which people voted for at the last general election."

Speaking to Times Radio, he explained his reasoning behind the decision to vote with no confidence. 

"People like to characterise everything," Mr Davies told Times Radio.

"That you're either 100 per cent in favour of the Prime Minister or 100 per cent against the Prime Minister, and if you voted against him you must be 100 per cent against him. I'm not and I don't think many of my colleagues are."

He added: "I mean, it's no secret I've been very critical of some of the Government's policies...the high tax, high spend, restricting people's freedoms and ending the belief in individual responsibility. And so that was certainly a factor in my vote. 

"And look, I also worried that the Prime Minister had lost the trust of too many people around the country."

Boris Johnson is set to meet his Cabinet on Tuesday as he seeks to keep his premiership afloat by putting a bruising confidence ballot firmly behind him.

The Prime Minister insisted he had secured a “decisive” victory, despite receiving a worse result than former Prime Minister Theresa May.

Mrs May secured the support of 63% of her MPs, but was still forced out within six months, while Mr Johnson saw 41% of his MPs vote against him.

Mr Johnson is arguing the Government can now “move on” and focus on what “really matters to people”.

He also poured cold water on the prospect of a snap election, saying he was “certainly not interested” in the idea.

But while allies of Mr Johnson have insisted his ballot victory should draw a line under the question of his leadership, Labour is moving to apply further pressure on the PM by pushing a Commons vote on standards.

The party is urging MPs from all sides to back calls for Mr Johnson’s ethics adviser to be given the freedom to launch his own investigations into potential ministerial rule breaches.

The Prime Minister told reporters in Downing Street: “I think it’s an extremely good, positive, conclusive, decisive result which enables us to move on, to unite and to focus on delivery and that is exactly what we are going to do.”