More than half of a panel of Conservative Party members believe Tory MPs should remove Boris Johnson as leader, according to a new survey.
The finding, published by the Conservative Home website, will raise the alarm in No 10 as it deals with the fallout from the no-confidence vote in the prime minister.
The survey of 1,058 Tory activists showed that 55 per cent thought MPs should vote to remove Mr Johnson, while 41 per cent were opposed to his removal.
A previous survey for the site gave the prime minister a 93 per cent approval rating in the wake of his resounding victory in the December 2019 general election.
Meawhile, a snap poll by YouGov also found deep anger over the Partygate scandal, with 42 per cent of Tory members saying that MPs should vote against Mr Johnson, ousting him from Downing Street. However, more than half (53 per cent) were opposed to the move.
The poll of 506 party members also found that half believed MPs were right to submit letters of no confidence to the chair of the 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady.
Among voters as a whole, Labour has enjoyed a small but steady lead over the Conservatives in opinion polls during the past six months.
The size of the lead has varied, from an average of just three points to as many as 11 points.
Sir Keir Starmer’s party first moved ahead in the polls in early December 2021, around the time stories first began to emerge of Downing Street parties during Covid-19 lockdowns.
Before this point, Labour had spent most of the previous few years trailing well behind the government.
Based on a seven-day rolling average of all national published polls, Labour’s vote share stood at 40 per cent on 6 June, ahead of the Conservatives on 32 per cent, with the Liberal Democrats on 12 per cent and the Greens on 6 per cent.
Exactly a year ago, on 6 June 2021, the Conservatives were averaging 45 per cent, Labour 33 per cent, and the Lib Dems and Greens 7 per cent each.
