Starmer plots as Major tells Johnson: ‘Go now’

TORY MPs last night rejected a call by Sir John Major for Boris Johnson to leave Downing Street immediately.

In an extraordinary intervention, the former prime minister said it would be ‘unwise and may be unsustainable’ for Mr Johnson to remain in office while a new Tory leader is elected.

It came as Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer vowed to table a Commons no-confidence motion unless the PM hands the keys to No 10 to a caretaker leader.

Mr Johnson yesterday fought to stay in Downing Street until October and began rebuilding his Cabinet as the battle to replace him got under way.

Constitutional experts are clear he is entitled to remain in No10 until a new party leader, who will be able to form a government, is in place.

But Sir John warned the new Cabinet would not be able to ‘restrain him’. In a letter to Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the Tory backbench 1922 committee, he suggested Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab could be installed as acting premier until the next leader is chosen.

Or, Sir John said, there could be a shorter leadership contest, with MPs picking the new PM.

Meanwhile, Sir Keir, who yesterday went to Wimbledon and sat in the royal box with his wife Victoria, called for a general election and threatened to try to oust Mr Johnson if he refuses to hand over to a caretaker.

He said: ‘If they don’t get rid of him then Labour will step up, in the national interest, and bring a vote of no confidence because we can’t go on with this Prime Minister clinging on for months and months to come.’

Tory MPs turned on Sir John, branding his proposal ‘not very democratic’. Michael Fabricant told BBC News: ‘It’s not very democratic to not involve the Conservative Party as a whole.’

Mark Pritchard, former chairman of the 1922 committee, said Sir John had ‘got it wrong’.