Johnson will use his final Commons performances to emulate Thatcher

Votes of no confidence are usually a chance for a party to rally around their leader, no matter how much of a lame duck they are, writes Sean O'Grady

Weirdly, the Tories might even give him a standing ovation (Getty)

There are three things never to forget when it comes to parliamentary votes of no confidence in the government.

The first is that, whether tabled by the government or the opposition, if they are lost – either with the formal use of the words “no confidence”, or on some issue explicitly declared by the government to be a matter of confidence (such as a crucial budget measure, or constitutional change) – then either a change of government will follow (possibly a hung parliament), or else there is a general election. Theoretically, they are moments of great import, with the life of the administration, political careers and the future of the nation all hanging in the balance.

However, most votes of confidence change nothing and are purely performative, usually tabled by an opposition party to shame a government, exploit divisions, or capitalise on some embarrassment, as the Liberal Democrats did after the Tory internal confidence vote in Boris Johnson in June.