Boris Johnson has been dealt a fresh blow after a senior Tory MP and former minister said that he had submitted a letter of no confidence in the Prime Minister.
Tobias Ellwood, MP for Bournemouth East and the current Defence Committee chairman, dropped the bombshell as the PM made his way back from Ukraine to face Prime Minister's Questions this lunchtime.
The move increases the danger of the required 54 MPs submitting letters, which would trigger a no confidence vote, reports the Mirror.
Fellow senior Tories David Davis and Andrew Mitchell have also said Mr Johnson should go.
He continues to face anger from MPs on his own benches after the initial version of the Sue Gray report into parties held in Downing Street during Covid restrictions blasted "failures of leadership".
Speaking on Sky News, Mr Ellwood said: “This is just horrible for all MPs to continuously have to defend this to the British public.
“The Government’s acknowledged the need for fundamental change, culture, make-up, discipline, the tone of Number 10, but the strategy has been one, it seems, of survival, of rushed policy announcements like the Navy taking over the migrant Channel crossings.
“And attacking this week Keir Starmer with Jimmy Savile… I mean who advised the Prime Minister to say this? We’re better than this, we must seek to improve our standards and rise above where we are today.”
He added: “I don’t think the Prime Minister realises how worried colleagues are in every corner of the party, backbenchers and ministers alike, that this is all only going one way and will invariably slide towards a very ugly place.
“I believe it’s time for the Prime Minister to take a grip of this; he himself should call a vote of confidence rather than waiting for the inevitable 54 letters to be eventually submitted.
“It’s time to resolve this completely so the party can get back to governing, and, yes, I know the next question you will ask, I will be submitting my letter today to the 1922 Committee.”
Northern Ireland Select Committee chairman and North Dorset Tory MP Simon Hoare has also called for the Jimmy Savile remarks to be withdrawn.
Mr Ellwood is the 11th Tory MP to publicly call for Boris Johnson to resign.
Writing on Twitter on Monday, he said: "The PM promised to publish the Sue Gray Report in full so Parliament and the British people could better appreciate the facts and draw their own conclusions.
"If the PM fails to publish the report in full then he will no longer have my support."
Last night Peter Aldous became the tenth, urging the PM to go "in the best interests of the country" after a "great deal of soul-searching".
Mr Aldous has sent a letter of no confidence to the 1922 Committee.
Mr Johnson faced this call to quit as he travelled to Ukraine to hold crisis talks on how the UK will bolster the nation's defence against potential Russian "aggression".
In the Commons on Monday, Tory grandee Andrew Mitchell told the PM he no longer "enjoys my support".
When asked if the PM was worried about another Tory MP calling for his resignation, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said: “You have seen the Prime Minister seek to address the concerns of MPs in the House for a number of hours yesterday, so I can point you back to those comments.
“Obviously at the moment he is in Ukraine, focused on the challenges there.”
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