Boris Johnson is facing a new plot to oust him, as Conservative rebels launched a push to change party rules in order to hold another vote on his leadership.
MPs who want to remove the Prime Minister are seeking election to the 18 most senior posts on the 1922 Committee, which dictates how to conduct confidence votes in Tory party leaders.
Currently, Mr Johnson is protected from another leadership vote for a year, after winning a poll earlier this month – despite 41 per cent of Tory MPs voting for his removal.
Under 1922 Committee rules, another vote cannot be held for a year. However, rebels want that rule scrapped. The regulations can be changed at any time by a simple majority of 10 out of the 18 senior 1922 Committee figures.
Three Tory MPs who want Mr Johnson out told The Telegraph they would seek election, promising a rule change. One said: “We could be heading into a world where the situation is beyond a joke. At that point, you need officers who are willing to say: ‘Enough’s enough.’”
The rebels' plans emerged after the Tories suffered a double by-election defeat, with the Liberal Democrats claiming Tiverton and Honiton and Labour regaining the seat of Wakefield.
Tiverton and Honiton was the biggest by-election defeat in history, in terms of the size of majority overturned.
No government has suffered two by-election losses in a single day since 1991.
Moments after the results were announced, Oliver Dowden, the Tory chairman, quit – the first resignation from the Cabinet this year.
The Prime Minister said he would listen to voters but vowed to carry on as leader as he responded to developments from Rwanda, where he is attending a Commonwealth summit.
Mr Johnson said: “No doubt people will continue to beat me up and say this or that and to attack me.
“That's fine, that’s quite right, that is the job of politicians. In the end voters, journalists, they have no one else to make their complaints to. I have to take that.
“But I also have to get on with the job of delivering for the people of this country and that’s what I was elected to do.”
He also promised to deliver new tax cuts, but gave no specifics of which taxes or when.
There were fresh calls for Mr Johnson's resignation on Thursday, with warnings from two former Tory leaders, Lord Howard and Lord Hague.
Lord Hague said that the party faced electoral "disaster" and called on Cabinet ministers to consider their positions.
Lord Howard said: "I think the party and even more importantly the country would now be better off under new leadership.”
However, a close ally of Mr Johnson told The Telegraph: “You will have to drag him out by his fingernails.”
Following Mr Dowden’s resignation, the Prime Minister talked to a string of senior Cabinet ministers and was reassured he retained their support, The Telegraph can reveal.
They included Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, Steve Barclay, his chief of staff, Dominic Raab, the Deputy Prime Minister, Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, and Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary.
Ms Patel and Mr Raab stepped in to cover the morning broadcast round, which was meant to be conducted by Mr Dowden.
Number 10 officials are understood to be confident no more Cabinet ministers are on the brink of resigning. But even so, a long-planned reshuffle is understood to have been delayed. It is now not expected until after Parliament breaks for summer recess on July 21.
An ally told The Telegraph: “He needs time to work through if he needs any other changes and if so, why, and if so, who. Realistically, we’re into the recess before we sort that.”
However, the threat from backbenchers remains.
Theresa May, the former prime minister, resigned in 2019 when told the 1922 Committee had held a vote on removing her year-long protection from a second vote.
Andrew Bridgen and Steve Baker, two Tory MPs who have called for Mr Johnson’s resignation, announced that they are running for senior spots on the committee.
Six positions are for 1922 Committee officers, while the other 12 are for spots on the executive.
Some of those seeking positions are explicitly promising to change the rules so Mr Johnson is not protected for a year, clearing the way for another vote in the summer or autumn.
Mr Bridgen told The Telegraph: “I will stand on a pro rules change ticket. Boris Johnson knows very well that it was the threat of rules change that persuaded Theresa May to stand down. He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword, as Boris knows well.”
A second said: “It will become apparent it will be necessary for people to vote for a number of candidates to the executive who can be assured to put the interests of the party first rather than the Prime Minister, who is a drag on the country to a great extent.”
But allies of the Prime Minister are hoping to push their own slate of pro-Johnson candidates to block such a move, with parliamentary private secretaries encouraged to vote for those figures.
A Tory whips source rejected claims a plot to protect Mr Johnson was under way by influencing the 1922 Committee elections, calling the allegations “untrue”.
