Conservative MP Anthony Mangnall has accused Boris Johnson of “mistruths” as he became one of dozen MPs to have called on the prime minister to resign.
The MP for Totnes and South Devon said he had submitted a letter of no-confidence to the chair of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers.
“Standards in public life matter. At this time I can no longer support the PM,” Mr Mangnall tweeted on Wednesday. “His actions and mistruths are overshadowing the extraordinary work of so many excellent ministers and colleagues.”
The backbencher was swiftly followed by Gary Streeter, Tory MP for South West Devon, who also announced he had sent in his letter on no-confidence.
He wrote on Facebook: “I cannot reconcile the pain and sacrifice of the vast majority of the British public during lockdown with the attitude and activities of those working in Downing Street.”
It follows ex-minister Tobias Ellwood’s announcement earlier on Wednesday that he was sending a letter of no-confidence to 1922 Committee chair Sir Graham Brady.
Though many Tory MPs have said they are waiting for Scotland Yard to conclude its probe into lockdown gatherings at Downing Street and Whitehall, Mr Ellwood said it is “just horrible” for Tory MPs to have to defend the partygate scandal in public.
He suggested Mr Johnson should “take a grip” of the situation and now call a vote of confidence in himself – warning that “this is all only going one way and will invariably slide towards a very ugly place”.
A dozen Conservative MPs have said they have submitted letters to the 1922 Committee or publicly called on Mr Johnson to quit.
However, 54 letters are needed to trigger a confidence vote, and a majority of Tory MPs (around 180) must vote against him before a leadership contest takes place to decide on his replacement.
Peter Aldous, Tory MP for Suffolk, said on Tuesday that after “a great deal of soul-searching” he had decided that “the prime minister should resign”.
Other Tory MPs to have publicly called on the PM to go include former Brexit secretary David Davis, Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross, Andrew Bridgen and Sir Roger Gale.
Backbenchers are uneasy about the failure of the Sue Gray “update” report to draw a line under partygate, and there is growing frustration over Mr Johnson’s refused to retract his false claim that Sir Keir Starmer was behind the failure to prosecute Jimmy Savile.
Senior Tory MP Julian Smith is among the backbenchers to have attacked both the PM’s “smear” and deputy PM Dominic Raab’ claim that the remarks were part of the normal “cut and thrust” of the Commons.
Tory Simon Hoare MP said prior to PMQs that the “false allegation should be withdrawn”.
Mr Johnson refused to retract his false claim at PMQs, as the Labour leader accused him of “parroting the conspiracy theories of violent fascists to try and score cheap political points”.
Nicola Sturgeon likened Mr Johnson to Donald Trump and accused him of spreading “fake news” over comments made about Sir Keir and the Savile case.
