A Tory MP has submitted a letter of no confidence in Rishi Sunak, saying it is time for the Conservative leader "to go" after his shock reshuffle angered the Tory right, according to The Mirror.
Dame Andrea Jenykns - a Boris Johnson loyalist - hit out at the PM as David Cameron made a surprise return to the top of Government as Foreign Secretary. Sunak also sacked the Home Secretary Suella Braverman after she defied No10 last week to publish an incendiary article on the pro-Palestine march without approval, The Mirror said.
Braverman, according to Sky News was purged after she accused the Metropolitan Police of left-wing bias in its handling of protests in an article for The Times which was not fully authorised by Number 10. She had also come under criticism in previous weeks for saying that homeless people living in tents was a "lifestyle choice".
Meanwhile, Deputy Tory chairman Lee Anderson was among hardline MPs at a meeting in Parliament on Monday where concerns were shared about Braverman's ousting as home secretary, The Mirror noted.
In a letter to the chairman of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers Sir Graham Brady, which she posted online, the ex-minister Dame Andrea said: "Enough is enough. If it wasn't bad enough that we have a party leader that the members rejected, the polls demonstrate that the public reject him, and I am in full agreement. It is time for Rishi Sunak to go."
She accused the PM of a "machiavellian involvement" in the downfall of his predecessor Boris Johnson, and hit out at the sacking of Braverman. The Tory MP added: "To be 20 points plus behind in the polls and by-election defeat after defeat. How long are MP's going to sit on their hands and let him and his out-of-touch advisers damage our party irrevocably?"
She is the first Tory MP to publicly announce she has submitted a no confidence letter to the Prime Minister - and urged other Conservative MPs to "follow suit". Under the party's rules at least 15% of the parliamentary party - over 50 MPs - must submit a letter to Sir Graham to start the firing gun on a possible leadership challenge, The Mirror added.