BORIS Johnson is facing his first censure vote by the House of Commons over his performance as Prime Minister.

The SNP will use an opposition day debate on Tuesday to table a rarely-used motion of censure against him.

The move was revealed by SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford in his speech to his party’s online conference this afternoon.

He said the SNP would “act as the real opposition” while Labour failed to hold the Prime Minister to account for his "disastrous actions". 

The motion is unlikely to be passed, but could prove embarrassing if any Tory MPs back it or, more likely, withhold their support for the PM by abstaining.

Mr Blackford announced the plan as he attacked Mr Johnson for the chaotic CBI speech discussing Peppa Pig World, and a series of scandals amounting to “corruption”.

He said: “As much as it might be tempting to keep poking fun at a Prime Minister who is forever producing an omnibus of omnishambles – there is also something deeply worrying about what is happening.

“I think all of us have a sense of just how damaging and dangerous it is that chaotic governance now defines Downing Street. That would be bad enough in normal times, but it is unforgivable in the middle of a pandemic.   

“Because let’s be clear, what we are all now witness to is a Prime Minister who is - day by day – deeper and deeper out of his depth. 

“It was previously said that the Prime Minister’s office was no place for a novice.

“Well, it is no place for a negligent either.

“And I know the Labour leader is fond of repeating these days that ‘the joke isn’t funny anymore’. 

“But he clearly doesn’t get that Scotland never found the joke funny in the first place.

"All this time, we’ve always known – our country can do so much better than this. 

“And conference, in the absence of actions from others in holding this Prime Minister to account, it is once again our job to act as the real opposition.

"On Tuesday, the SNP will use our opposition day to put down a motion of censure against this Prime Minister. 

“Because unless this Prime Minister is censured, unless he faces consequences for his disastrous actions – he won’t just think he’s gotten away with the mess he has made of the last few months, he will think he can do it all over again.”

A motion of censure cannot trigger the fall of a government even if passed, as only a specifically worded motion of no confidence can do that.

According to the Institute for Government, the last time a censure motion was used was in December 2018, when Labour tabled one against then PM Theresa May.

However, the Government refused to make time available for it to be debated.

Labour had previously used censure motions against then transport minister Chris Graying and work and pensions secretary Esther Mcvey, which were debated but defeated.