Change or go, rebels tell PM

TORY rebels fired warning shots at Boris Johnson yesterday, saying things must change by next year or he will have to go.

Backbenchers urged the Prime Minister to ‘reset’ his operation following a major rebellion by 100 Tory MPs over Covid rules on Tuesday.

They said more than two dozen letters challenging Mr Johnson’s leadership could be submitted following a series of scandals.

It came after senior Tory MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown claimed a leadership challenge has ‘got to be on the cards’ if the PM does not alter the way he deals with his own MPs.

Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen warned yesterday that the party was ‘ruthless’ at getting rid of leaders who had become a liability. ‘The old Boris magic is wearing thin,’ he said. ‘He was brilliant at getting Brexit done. when he became PM I assumed he would get a great team to help him run the Government to make up for his lack of organisational skills. But he hasn’t.’

He added: ‘As soon as [Tory leaders] become a liability they have to go. Boris knows this because he took part in the unceremonious defenestration of Theresa May. He needs to change or go.’

Mark Harper, head of the Covid Recovery Group (CRG) of Tory MPs, said the Government ‘could not carry on like this’. ‘He can get back on track... Lots of things are going wrong and there needs to be a reset’, he said. Tobias Ellwood, Commons defence committee chairman, said the MPs’ revolt ‘sent a clear message that future policy will receive greater scrutiny and [that] No10’s performance over the last couple of months was sub-optimal and things need to change’. But asked at last night’s press conference whether he intended to ‘change’, Mr Johnson pointed to recent successes.

The PM said he ‘would respectfully suggest’ the public are focused on the booster vaccines rollout in response to Omicron after 100 Tory MPs voted against the mandatory use of Covid health certificates.

His lack of contrition following the rebellion will be unlikely to reassure his colleagues. One senior Tory MP said: ‘I’ve never seen anything like it. People are angry – furious.

‘I think that there are a dozen letters [calling for a vote of confidence in the PM] in to the ’22 [the 1922 committee of backbench Tory MPs], but if we lose North Shropshire [in today’s byelection, prompted by the resignation of Owen Paterson], it will be two dozen.’

However, another senior Tory MP said: ‘Depending on what happens with Covid, if he comes back in the New Year with some evidence that the No10 machine has had the creases ironed out of it, he will be fine.’

‘I’ve never seen anything like it’