The Tory rebellion engulfing Boris Johnson’s leadership grew further on Wednesday morning as the chair of the Commons defence committee said the prime minister should face a vote of no confidence.
Tobias Ellwood, a senior Conservative MP and former minister, confirmed he had submitted a letter to his party to trigger a vote on the PM's future.
He joins around 10 other Tories who have publicly confirmed they have submitted letters to the party’s 1922 committee to fire the starting gun on a leadership contest.
“I don’t think the prime minister realises how worried colleagues are in every corner of the party, backbenchers and ministers alike, that this is all only going one way and will invariably slide towards a very ugly place,” Mr Ellwood told Sky News.
“I believe it’s time for the Prime Minister to take a grip of this; he himself should call a vote of confidence rather than waiting for the inevitable 54 letters to be eventually submitted.
“It’s time to resolve this completely so the party can get back to governing, and, yes, I know the next question you will ask, I will be submitting my letter today to the 1922 Committee.”
The Bournmouth MP said it was “just horrible for all MPs to continuously have to defend this to the British public”, adding:
"The Government's acknowledged the need for fundamental change, culture, make-up, discipline, the tone of Number 10, but the strategy has been one, it seems, of survival, of rushed policy announcements like the Navy taking over the migrant Channel crossings.
"And attacking this week Keir Starmer with Jimmy Savile... I mean who advised the Prime Minister to say this? We're better than this, we must seek to improve our standards and rise above where we are today."
The defence committee chair’s vote of no confidence in the prime minister is especially significant because it comes at a time of heightened tensions with Russia on Ukraine’s eastern border.
His intervention comes less than 24 hours after Tory MP Peter Aldous confirmed he had also submitted a letter of no confidence to the 1922 committee.
Other Tory MPs to have publicly called on the PM to go include ex Brexit secretary David Davis, Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross, and veteran Tory Roger Gale.
Other MPs may have anonymously submitted letters in order to oust the prime minister under Tory rules.
A total of 54 are required to trigger a no-confidence vote in the parliamentary party, and the PM must then lose in order to trigger a leadership contest.
Mr Johnson on Monday night tried to rally his parliamentary party at a meeting in Westminster, where he was said to have given a "barnstorming" performance. But his party remains behind in the polls, with Labour opening up a consistent lead of around 10 points because of collapsing Tory support.
Despite winning a large Commons majority just two years ago the PM has tanked in the estimation of the public following revelation after revelation about rule breaking in Downing Street.
