'Beginning Of The End': Rebel MPs Vow To Keep Up Pressure On Johnson

Tory rebels have vowed to keep trying to force Boris Johnson from office, as the prime minister's allies admitted he was reaching "the beginning of the end" after a devastating result in last night's no-confidence vote.

- Aubrey Allegretti

Johnson's struggle to hold his party together will become more intense, with some of the 148 MPs who voted against him said to be "implacably opposed" to his premiership.

They will hold his feet to the fire as the next Partygate inquiry - into whether the prime minister misled parliament by denying any Covid rules were broken in Downing Street gets under way in the coming weeks.

Several rebel MPs boasted the government whipping operation had been "appalling" and appeared to collapse under the weight of last night's rebellion, meaning Johnson was now on "borrowed time".

The divide between those backing and opposing Johnson threatens to derail Downing Street's attempts to draw a line under the humiliating episode. Though the majority of Tory MPs supported the prime minister, a significant number voted to oust him in the secret ballot held by the 1922 Committee. The result had echoes of another no-confidence ballot in 2018, when Theresa May won the support of two-thirds of her party but was left irrevocably damaged.