The MP for Huntingdon, Jonathan Djanogly, has said that he will back Theresa May in the vote of no confidence in her leadership.

The Conservative MP posted on Twitter calling members of the party ‘self indulgent’ after the contest was triggered today (Wednesday).

He said: “I shall be voting for the PM this evening. Given the ongoing EU negotiations I see the timing of this confidence vote to be all of ill advised, self indulgent and contrary to the national interest.”

The news comes after Conservative MPs triggered a vote of no confidence in the prime minister.

Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee, received at least 48 letters from Conservative MPs calling for a vote of no confidence in the prime minister.

Under party rules, a contest is triggered if 15 per cent of Conservative MPs write to the chair of the committee of Tory backbenchers.

The vote of no confidence means that a ballot will be held this evening to see if the prime minister will backed by MPs.

If not enough MPs keep faith in Mrs May, then a leadership contest will be triggered.

The vote is set to take place between 6-8pm, where the Tories will vote to either back or oust Mrs May.

On Tuesday night, ministers warned that if the challenge was successful article 50 may be suspended, creating uncertainty around Brexit negotiations

However, it is not guaranteed that a new leader will lead to new agreements in the Brexit process.

Speaking outside 10 Downing Street, Mrs May said: “I will contest that vote with everything I have got.”

She said a new prime minister would have to scrap or extend article 50, the process taking Britain out of the EU on March 29, “delaying or even stopping Brexit”.

Mrs May said changing Conservative leader would “put our country’s future at risk and create uncertainty when we can least afford it”.

“A leadership election would not change the fundamentals of the negotiation or the Parliamentary arithmetic.

“Weeks spent tearing ourselves apart will only create more division just as we should be standing together to serve our country. None of that would be in the national interest,” she said in her statement.

She said she was making progress in her talks with EU leaders and vowed to “deliver on the referendum vote and seize the opportunities that lie ahead”.

Because the Conservative Party is the largest party in the House of Commons, whoever is voted as leader of the party would be expected to be prime minister.

If Mrs May is voted out as the leader later this evening, she would be expected to stay on as prime minister until a new leader is selected, which could take six weeks.

If there is more than one candidate, MPs will hold a series of votes to choose two to go forward to a vote of party members.