Boris Johnson’s support among Tory MPs has ebbed to an all-time low after the Conservatives suffered two crushing by-election losses on Thursday.
Following the double defeats in Tiverton and Wakefield, one senior Conservative MP, who backed Mr Johnson in the no-confidence vote earlier this month, told The Independent that they had now changed their mind.
“I voted for Boris last time but I just can’t see any way out of it for him right now,” they said.
“It is now a question of when, not if. The public have made up their minds. We got it wrong in hanging on to John Major in the nineties and we can’t get it wrong a second time with Johnson.”
The former Tory leader Michael Howard has also urged Mr Johnson to step down, while a cabinet minister admitted that “the mood has shifted”.
Their statements came after the Tory party chairman Oliver Dowden resigned, citing the “disappointment” of the public over the Partygate scandal. “Someone must take responsibility,” he said.
