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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Pippa Crerar

Tory rebels vow to continue bid to oust Boris Johnson 'until he's gone'

Boris Johnson is launching a policy blitz to try to move on from the humiliating confidence vote that has divided his party.

Over the coming days he will make announcements on Brexit and housing as he attempts to get back on the front foot.

But the Prime Minister faces more plotting from mutinous Tory MPs who have vowed to continue their bid to oust him.

One leading rebel told the Mirror: "This isn't going to stop until he's gone because none of us have changed our minds.”

Moments of high danger ahead for the PM include the Wakefield and Tiverton by-elections which the Tories are expected to lose.

He also faces a damaging Commons investigation into whether he lied to Parliament over Partygate.

There did not yet appear to be an organised campaign against the PM with one rebel describing the 148 MPs who voted against him in Monday's no confidence vote as a "bunch of disparate malcontents".

Despite the PM’s allies claiming that the vote produced a “decisive result”, winning the backing of 59% of his MPs, critics urged him to step down, saying that his days in power are numbered.

Jeremy Hunt leaving his London home riding his bike (Ben Cawthra/LNP)
Philip Dunne said 'this is not over' (Handout)

One rebel, Tobias Ellwood, warned that Mr Johnson will face another bid to oust him “within months” if he doesn’t turn things around.

Although party rules don’t allow a second confidence vote within a year, Tory grandees have suggested they can be changed.

Mr Ellwood said: “If we don’t see genuine change reflected in the polls then the storm clouds will gather again.”

Boris Johnson attended a Cabinet meeting after winning a vote of no confidence (Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)

Another, Philip Dunne, who is close to potential leadership contender Jeremy Hunt, said: "This is not over".

A third, Andrew Bridgen, added: "The residual concerns from across the party will continue.

"He should now leave with honour and residual affection for what he has achieved".

Some Tory rebels suggested they could use Parliamentary procedure to make life difficult for the Government.

“The whips had better be ready for guerrilla warfare," one warned, although others said they were against the PM, not his policies.

Other MPs claimed that the PM would in the end be the master of his own demise.

"The one person who brings down Boris is in fact Boris. We stumble on from this f***-up to the next," they added.

There was a further blow to his authority when Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng told MPs he was still against the windfall tax on oil giants, despite it being a key Government policy.

More names emerged from across the Tory party of those who had voted against the PM including former deputy PM Damian Green.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng (Zuma Press/PA Images)

Yet Mr Johnson told his Cabinet it was time to “move on” from the damaging internal conflict which saw him cling to power.

“Today, I pledge to continue delivering on these priorities,” he said.

“We are on the side of hard-working British people, and we are going to get on with the job.”

The PM also promised to cut taxes and drive down the cost of Government in response to pressure from MPs.

He claimed the "fundamental Conservative instinct" was to allow people to decide how to spend their money.

He also claimed that tax cuts would help boost sluggish growth.

Former Brexit minister Lord David Frost - now a critic of the PM - said the rebellion showed policy change was needed.

"The vote is a sign of a big problem and I think the big problem is that we are delivering an economic policy that is not going to deliver prosperity and wealth," he said.

"If we can change that, then he can get on to a different path and change the premiership and the Government."

But one minister who backed the PM told the Mirror that a new slew of policy - also expected to include announcements on childcare and immigration - would not reverse Mr Johnson's fate.

Dominic Raab at the Cabinet meeting at Downing Street (Mark Thomas/REX/Shutterstock)

"My colleagues seem to think we're struggling because of a lack of policy. We're not," he said.

"We're struggling for one reason - the public has lost faith in Boris Johnson.

"They're got their heads in the sand if they think we'll be able to get back on track with him at the helm."

Polling guru Sir John Curtice warned that the Tories’ big problem was that the public no longer trusted Mr Johnson.

"When polls repeatedly tell you that the Government, that the Prime Minister is not believed, you should be sitting up and taking notice," he said.

The PM is under pressure from Cabinet allies to hold a reshuffle the junior ranks to shore up his authority - and to sack ministers who have failed to publicly support him.

However, former Tory leader Lord Hague said Mr Johnson had experienced a “greater level of rejection” than any of his predecessors and should quit.

“While Johnson has survived the night, the damage done to his premiership is severe,” he added.

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