Tory defector Christian Wakeford says Boris Johnson is on borrowed time as a half-dozen leadership contenders vie to do the dirty on the PM.
The Bury South MP who joined Labour last week said: “The PM has poisoned the Tory Party from top to bottom.
“Britain deserves better. It is time for Boris Johnson to go.”
Six contenders are leading the field for the top job and sources say some are already raising campaign money and promising MPs top jobs.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak and former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt remain the frontrunners.
But coming up on the outside are Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt, 48, and Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi, 54.
Also in the running are Foreign Affairs committee chair Tom Tugenhat and Tory membership favourite, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.
The race will be a knockout contest until the final two candidates emerge to go before a vote of party members.
One MP said: “There will be a lot of tactical voting. Most of us think it willl be a disaster if Liz makes the last two because she is sure to get in.”
Supporters of Sunak and Hunt have agreed a “non-aggression pact” to squeeze her out.
Tory MPs’ shop steward Sir Graham Brady needs 54 letters of no confidence in the PM for a vote to go ahead.
But the chair of the backbench 1922 committee has received more than a thousand others, many from lifelong Conservatives who will never vote for the party again.
One signed by John from Sterling, read: “I have voted Tory for over 50 years. No longer. I am disgusted with them.”
Douglas from Orpington wrote: “On the night of Johnson’s ‘Work Meeting’ my 12-year-old grandson was in A&E suffering long Covid.
“Bring this tawdry chapter in the party’s history to an end.” Yesterday the crisis deepened as chair of the Commons Public Administration Committee
William Wragg said he would be speaking to police this week about allegations Tory whips “blackmailed” MPs.
Standards Committee chair, Labour’s Chris Bryant, said if the claims were true it could lead to charges of misconduct in public office.
Wakeford said: “Whips told me I wouldn’t get a promised new school in Bury South if I voted the wrong way.”
Most Tory MPs are waiting for Sue Gray’s report before deciding their next move.
They were furious that over-excited new MPs elected in 2019 rushed in letters in last week’s so-called pork pie plot – named because conspirators gathered in the office of Alicia Kearns, whose constituency contains the Melton Mowbray plant.
Had the plot succeeded, a no confidence vote would have been held – and lost – before the Gray report.
Johnson is speaking to wobbling MPs this weekend from his Chequers country retreat.
Reports suggest Gray has found an email warning the PM’s principal private secretary Martin Reynolds against a drinks party in the No 10 garden.
Johnson has admitted attending the gathering on 20 May 2020 and staying for 25 minutes before clocking it was not a work event.
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
