Keir Starmer has called for a snap general election, saying Rishi Sunak has lost control of his government.
The Labour leader says the Prime Minister is not strong enough to stand up to his party as it descends into chaos after the shock resignation of Boris Johnson.
Mr Starmer today says people have had enough of the “farce” of Tory rule and want a general election now.
He accused Rishi Sunak of losing control as the Conservatives descend into civil war following Boris Johnson’s shock resignation.
Mr Starmer said the Prime Minister wasn’t strong enough to “stand up to the Tory berserkers determined to drag the country down with them.”
He added: “Rishi Sunak must finally find a backbone, call an election, and let the public have their say on 13 years of Tory failure.
“This farce must stop. People have had enough.”
Mr Johnson quit as an MP on Friday night, sidestepping punishment for lying to the Commons about law-breaking lockdown parties.
But the shamed ex-PM hinted at a comeback in his resignation speech – as a string of supporters promised he would be back. Hours earlier, one of his biggest fans, former Cabinet minister Nadine Dorries, unexpectedly stepped down from her Mid Bedfordshire seat.
The idea of Mr Johnson standing in Ms Dorries’ old seat is one of a number he is discussing for his future.
Yesterday another close ally, Nigel Adams, forced a third by-election by quitting his seat in Selby and Ainsty, North Yorks.
Mr Johnson had been warned in an email on Thursday that he would be carpeted by the Commons Privileges Committee’s investigation into whether he misled MPs over Downing Street parties during Covid.
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That meant he faced a 10-day Commons suspension, triggering a by-election.
On Friday afternoon, Downing Street released the finalised list of Mr Johnson's resignation honours list. Ms Dorries and Mr Adams, both expected to go to the Lords, were not on the list.
Number 10 insisted Mr Sunak had made no changes to it, and his only role had been to pass it to the House of Lords Appointments Commission.
It is understood the commission removed eight names from the peerages list – half of the total number – for reasons of propriety.
In a furious and lengthy resignation statement on Friday, Mr Johnson lashed out at Privileges Committee chair and Labour MP Harriet Harman, branding the probe a “kangaroo court”.
He said: “It is very sad to be leaving Parliament – at least for now – but above all I am bewildered and appalled that I can be forced out, anti-democratically, by a committee chaired and managed, by Harriet Harman, with such egregious bias.”
A snap poll taken overnight found six in 10 voters thought Johnson was right to quit.
Just 17% believe he did not knowingly mislead Parliament – while 65% think he did. But some Tory MPs insist it is not the end of their hero, who is said to be abroad after making a speech in Cairo.
Sir James Duddridge – given a knighthood by Mr Johnson – said: “This is the conclusion of a chapter not the end of the book.”
And Conor Burns added: “I fancy this isn’t the end. Good luck boss.”
Lib Dem Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper joined calls for Mr Sunak to finally go to the country.
“The Conservative Party is in meltdown and must now call a general election,” she said.
“It is time people across the country have their opportunity to give a verdict on this chaotic Conservative government.”
While all three vacant seats have healthy Tory majorities, none are guaranteed to stay that way as the party continues to trail in polls.
The Tories have lost four seats in by-elections since June 2021, three of them to the Lib Dems and a fourth to Labour.
Mr Johnson had a majority of 7,000 in Uxbridge and South Ruislip, putting the seat high on Labour’s hit-list.
Labour’s candidate there, Danny Beales, said: “I think people are telling us that they're pretty fed up.
“Whether they voted Labour or Conservative last time, they feel the country is not working. I definitely think we're in with a shot.”
Ms Dorries' majority in Mid Bedfordshire was 24,664 but the Lib Dems would need a swing of 23.6% to take the seat – less than they achieved in their shock by-election upsets in Chesham and Amersham, North Shropshire and Tiverton and Honiton.
Leader Ed Davey is set to make an appearance there today, and the party has already printed 40,000 leaflets to be handed out by dozens of activists flooding in from around the country.
A source said: “All the ingredients are there for us to pull off another historic by-election upset.”
The cost of fighting three by-elections at once could be crippling for the Conservatives.
In February, billionaire Mohamed Mansour reportedly offered to dig the party out of a financial black hole after donors deserted the party.
Donations dropped by 45% in the third quarter of 2022, according to Electoral Commission figures.
Mr Mansour was given the role of senior treasurer, and handed the party £5million to “keep the lights on”.
Meanwhile, veteran MP Sir Bill Cash and former minister Will Quince, both of whom have backed Mr Johnson, announced they would step down at the next election.
It takes the number of Tory MPs stepping down before the next election to a staggering 43.
Sunak must get a backbone and led nation vote
By Sir Keir Starmer
When Boris Johnson resigned as Prime Minister, that should have been the end of him.
His boozy lockdown parties and his jokes about allegations of sexual assault by one of his MPs were disgraceful.
Johnson’s refusal to take responsibility is typical of the man. But Rishi Sunak’s failure to stand up to his disgraced former boss means he continues to haunt Britain like the ghost at the feast.
Sunak agreeing to hand gongs to a cast list of cronies, rule-breakers and lickspittles is just the latest pathetic episode in this Tory soap opera.
Rather than dealing with the issues facing the country, the Prime Minister is focused on managing the egos of a party that is totally unfit to govern.
Rishi Sunak must finally find a backbone, call an election, and let the public have their say on 13 years of Tory failure.
I have made the tough decisions to get Labour back on track after our worst election loss.
I did so with a single focus – to make Labour the party of working people, ready to give the country its future back.
Because Sunak has no mandate, he has no strength to stand up to the Tory berserkers determined to drag the country down with them.
He has plainly failed to end the Tory chaos. It was yet another paper promise from a paper Prime Minister.
I know only too well how tough families across the country are finding life.
Every day, I talk with people who struggle to pay their bills, can’t get a doctor’s appointment or see their lives made a misery by the crime plaguing our neighbourhoods.
What they want is someone to get a grip and show some leadership. To focus on the things that matter to them. To provide some hope and optimism about the future.
Instead, they have a shambolic Tory government and a Prime Minister no one voted for, too weak to do anything about it.
This farce must stop. People have had enough.
