As MPs met in small packs to plot in the atrium of Portcullis House over breakfast coffee, the mood among Boris Johnson’s loyalists was upbeat. There were confident predictions that the prime minister could keep the rebel numbers below 100.
By the time the prime minister left the 1922 Committee, the new line was that one vote was enough. It was a measure of how a seemingly chaotic, rudderless rebel operation had managed to sow enough doubt in the minds of their colleagues – with a counter-bid that relied on raw numbers and aimed to demonstrate Johnson was an electoral liability.
