Reading West MP Alok Sharma has announced his support for Boris Johnson in tonight’s no confidence vote, but the town's residents are divided.

The future of the Prime Minister’s position will be decided by a secret ballot at 6pm by Conservative MPs after at least 54 of them submitted letters calling for his resignation as their leader.

Asked how they would vote if they could, some readers of the Reading Chronicle wanted change.

Sarah Hacker said: “He has zero integrity left. How can we trust a man to lead the country who has been shown to have lied, broken lockdown rules and watched as people are plunged into poverty?”

Tegg Mark agreed: “He broke the laws he and his party made, showed complete contempt and disregard for the general public. He should have resigned from public office but he has no honour or sense of what it is right.”

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With 359 Tory MP’s in Parliament, 180 of them would need to vote against Johnson if he is to be removed as party leader, but Sharma tweeted he will ‘#BackBoris’.

“Boris Johnson has my full support and I urge Conservatives [sic] MPs to vote for him today.

“He delivered a historic win in 2019, has provided strong leadership through the pandemic supporting jobs and businesses and is leading the international response on Ukraine.”

His comments came as news broke that the Government’s anti-corruption tsar, John Penrose, resigned and called on the Prime Minister to do the same, accusing him of breaking the Ministerial Code - something the PM denies.

Read more: Boris Johnson to face leadership vote today

Noting that leadership was one of the “Nolan Principles” governing conduct in public life, Mr Penrose wrote: “The only fair conclusion to draw from the Sue Gray Report is that you have breached a fundamental principle of the Ministerial Code – a clear resigning matter."

But some Chronicle Readers supported Johnson staying on as PM, with Adrian Street writing: “Not at this point. The country requires stability to weather this turbulent, unpredictable time. To destabilize government isn't going to help the crisis we are in.”

Catherine Vickery said: “We need consistency and stability at the moment.”

Other residents of the town argued he should stay because there were ‘no other alternatives.’

“We could end up with someone a lot worse,” commented Gill Hawkins.

Ian Sterett wrote: “There is no other Tory worthy of leadership.”

If Johnson wins the leadership vote tonight, he may not be challenged for another year under current rules.

Reading East MP Matt Rodda, Labour, could not immediately be reached for comment.