Boris Johnson is facing the endgame of his premiership as Michael Gove was reported to have told him to stand down.
Gove who went from loyalist to enemy and back again, is understood to have joined the Tory chief whip in telling Johnson the games was up as a torrent of junior ministers followed former chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid out the door.
In a day of rolling drama, with 26 resignations and counting, Johnson declared to the Commons that we would “hang on in there” as the party finally turned against him over his repeated evasion of the truth and responsibility for a string of scandals.
READ MORE: Prime Minister vows to hang on in there after Commons battering
Having been humiliated in the Commons at Prime Minister’s Questions Johnson was due for a second public battering at the liasion committee.
Conservative rebels warned they could change the party’s rules immediately to oust him as Tory leader.
Senior Tory MPs on the executive of the 1922 backbench committee are due to meet later on Wednesday to set out the timetable and process for electing a new executive, with speculation a vote could be held as soon as the middle of next week.
But there are also reports that the 1922 could change the rules on confidence votes immediately without the need for electing a new executive and could force a showdown with Johnson later on Wednesday.
Under current rules Johnson cannot face another vote for 12 months, having narrowly won a confidence vote by 211-148 exactly one month ago.
But opponents of the Prime Minister are said to be bidding to win a majority on the new 12-member executive to force through a rule change which would enable them to call a vote on Johnson much sooner.
Conservative MP Andrew Murrison, who quit his role as a government trade envoy, warned the Prime Minister that if he didn’t quit now then the 1922 Committee would force him to go.
But having vowed to fight on and win a vote of no confidence Johnson showed no signs of surrendering his besieged Downing Street operation.
For the Tory rebels to win a second confidence vote they would probably only require another 20 Tory MPs who previously backed Johnson to switch sides to unseat him.
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