Disgruntled Tory MPs have told Boris Johnson that momentum behind a challenge to his leadership is now “unstoppable” after the Conservatives lost almost 400 councillors and a string of flagship councils.
The prime minister admitted the Tories had experienced a “tough night” in London and the south but insisted that the party had made “quite remarkable gains” elsewhere in the country as Keir Starmer’s Labour failed to make a breakthrough in the so-called red wall heartland.
