Markus Andrews

Liz Truss has insisted the cabinet still backs Boris Johnson despite the Tories’ disastrous byelection defeats and has given him her “100 per cent” support.Senior ministers are being urged to threaten to walk out, to bring down the prime minister – after former party leader William Hague told them “that’s what I would do”.But the foreign secretary, asked if Mr Johnson retains the crucial support of his cabinet – while thousands of miles away at a summit in Rwanda – told ITV News: “He does”. Ms Truss, who is certain to be a leadership candidate herself in any contest, told reporters in the African country that she “100 per cent supports the prime minister”.“He’s doing an excellent job and we need to keeping going at this very difficult time for the world,” she said, brushing off the Tiverton and Wakefield defeats as no “predictor” of what will happen at the general election.“The reality is that incumbent governments often lose by-elections and often people want to send a message in a by-election to raise concerns with the government,” Ms Truss said.“But that doesn’t make byelection results the predictor of election outcomes. It hasn’t been the predictor in the past and I don’t believe it will be the predictor of the next general election.”Back in the UK, Tory rebels are plotting to seize control of the 1922 Committee of backbenchers in elections next month – the other possible route to toppling Mr Johnson.They would then attempt to force a rule change to allow another no-confidence vote, lifting the bar preventing another challenge for 12 months, until next June.Another vote could then be held in the autumn if the looming contempt inquiry into whether the prime minister lied to parliament over the No 10 parties is damning.Earlier, a defiant Mr Johnson turned on Conservative opponents who are demanding he resign, telling them their criticism “doesn’t matter” and they have no policy ideas.Speaking in Rwanda, he refused to accept he “personally contributed” to the byelection defeats through his lawbreaking behaviour in the Partygate scandal.And he made clear he will not undergo “sort of psychological transformation” to change his character, saying: “I think our listeners will know that’s not going to happen.”The prime minister claimed the “only argument of substance” made by any of his critics was “for us to go back into the EU single market”.And he told BBC Radio 4: “As a leader you have to try to distinguish between criticism that really matters and the criticism that doesn’t matter.”Mr Johnson also tried to put a positive spin on only 59 per cent of his MPs backing him in this month’s confidence vote, claiming: “I have a renewed mandate from my colleagues and I’m going to continue to deliver.” More

The Conservatives need to lose the next general election to “heal” the party’s bitter divisions under Boris Johnson, Michael Heseltine has suggested.The former deputy prime minister became the second party big-hitter to argue that losing power is now its best option – pointing to the Brexit as “the elephant in the room”.“Brexit is a disaster and every day it becomes more clear that it’s a disaster,” Lord Heseltine said.“There are divisions within the Conservative Party, which frankly – and I don’t like the idea – a lost election might do something to heal.”Speaking to LBC Radio, the peer, who was stripped of the Tory whip by Mr Johnson in 2019 for his pro-EU stance, said the UK badly needed to become “a major respected player” in Europe again.He pointed to the huge problems caused by the hard Brexit deal, including a loss of investment and workers and exclusion from the Horizon science collaboration project.Pointing to the UK’s past influence in Europe, Lord Heseltine said: “The Conservatives have abandoned that with awful economic consequences.”He added: “A million Europeans have gone home. You want to know why we got queues and shortages? That is an important part of it.”The tearing up of the Northern Ireland Protocol and the renewed threat of Scottish independence “all add up to a long term infliction of harm on the British economy,” Lord Heseltine said.The comments come after Chris Patten, the former Tory chairman, called another election victory for his party a “disaster” that would break up the United Kingdom.The Conservatives, under Mr Johnson, is no longer conservative but an English Nationalist party, he warned.Meanwhile, a defiant Mr Johnson turned on Conservative opponents who are demanding he resign, telling them their criticism “doesn’t matter” and they have no policy ideas.Speaking in Rwanda, he refused to accept he “personally contributed” to the byelection defeats through his lawbreaking behaviour in the Partygate scandal.And he made clear he will not undergo “sort of psychological transformation” to change his character, saying: “I think our listeners will know that’s not going to happen.”The prime minister claimed the “only argument of substance” made by any of his critics was “for us to go back into the EU single market”.And he told BBC Radio 4: “As a leader you have to try to distinguish between criticism that really matters and the criticism that doesn’t matter.” More

Boris Johnson has insisted that the response to his government’s controversial plans to override parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol was more “muted” than expected.The prime minister made the comment during a visit to Rwanda, while MPs have been preparing to debate the proposed legislation next week.On Monday, the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill will be given its second reading in the Commons and MPs will vote on whether it can proceed for further consideration.The Tory government has argued that the measures to remove checks on goods and animal and plant products travelling from Britain to Northern Ireland are necessary to safeguard the Good Friday Agreement and peace and stability.The European Union has renewed its legal action against the Bill since it was announced.On Tuesday, French Europe minister Clement Beaune said there had been a “serene and confident” discussion between the 27 ministers in Luxembourg in response to “the recent provocative moves from the British government”.“The protocol cannot be renegotiated,” he said.But Mr Johnson said that the “reaction around the table amongst our friends has been much more muted than I think people were expecting”.He added: “That’s because, you know, in the end, we don’t want to fall out over this. We want a solution.”Mr Johnson also played down concerns about the legal challenges against the government over the Bill.“We’ve got a legal case against us for failing to have proper customs procedures, all sorts of things,” he said.Mr Johnson also rejected suggestions, from some leaders in the EU, that the attempt to redefine the protocol was to appease Tory hardliners.“Do you really think that most Conservative MPs or most people in the country are thinking about this problem? They’re not,” he said.“I’m afraid to say that this is an issue that is entirely to do with the balance of the political situation in Northern Ireland. And we have to respect that. This is something that I didn’t want to do. I wanted the protocol to work. I, after all, agreed the thing.”The plans to unilaterally override parts of the protocol – agreed between the UK and the EU – have been working, according to Stormont Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd.He said he had come from a business event with more than 400 delegates and that people there said the dual access to the EU market and the British market is working for them.Efforts to pass the controversial legislation must be stopped, Mr O’Dowd said as he appealed to MPs to vote against the bill.Meanwhile, Unionists are against the imposition of checks between Britain and the north of Ireland.The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) refuses to return to the powersharing executive over the issue and has left Northern Ireland without a functioning government.DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said he hopes the bill gets through the Commons before Parliament’s summer recess. More

A week ago ministerial allies of Boris Johnson were insisting that losses in the Tiverton and Wakefield by-elections were already “priced in”. The results would not matter, they insisted, because no one expected them to win. It did not quite work out that way.Less than two hours after the scale of the disastrous defeats became apparent, one of Boris Johnson’s most publicly loyal allies, party chairman Oliver Dowden, quit. Shortly afterwards, former Conservative leader Michael Howard became the latest senior Tory to call on the prime minister to resign. And yet still Mr Johnson limps on.Some in the cabinet privately concede that the results mark a shift in the saga which has engulfed the government since Partygate first broke last November. Although no one followed Mr Dowden out the door, cabinet ministers were noticeably quiet or circumspect in their public support for their leader. Within the cabinet, however, there is a feeling that even those keen to replace Mr Johnson will not hasten his exit with their resignation, for fear of being seen to wield the knife.Even for a party with such a distinguished history of political patricide as the Tories, the question of how to get rid of the prime minister is not an easy one. Behind the scenes, however, Tory rebels are becomingly increasingly exasperated with the cabinet’s unwillingness to act.In bad news for the likes of foreign secretary Liz Truss, currently in Rwanda with the prime minister, or Rishi Sunak, whose friends believe he can still mount a leadership bid despite revelations his wife was a non-dom, there is growing resentment against cabinet ministers. One leading rebel said: “The next leader of the Conservative Party needs integrity, courage and to show leadership. That rules out all of the current cabinet.”The attention of many is now focused on securing a change in the rules of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs instead. As these stand, they give Mr Johnson another year before he again faces a confidence vote.There is evidence a second vote could produce a very different result. One former convinced loyalist, with a very large majority, told The Independent he had voted for Mr Johnson two weeks ago but would not do so again.But many rebels believe Tory MPs will not have to cast their ballots for a second time in order to oust their leader. Just the prospect of another confidence vote, triggered by reform of the rules, could be enough to bring Boris Johnson’s political career to a close, they argue. Concentrating minds are the messages they are receiving from their own constituencies. “Tories love winning more than anything,” said the head of a local Conservative association in southwest England. “That’s why we loved Boris.” Their use of the past tense was no accident, they added. More

Boris Johnson’s hold on the premiership is tonight in peril, amid signs that support for his leadership within the Conservative Party is ebbing away in the wake of a pair of disastrous by-election defeats.As Labour seized back the totemic red-wall seat of Wakefield and Liberal Democrats overturned a record by-election majority to take “true blue” Tiverton & Honiton in Devon, one MP who backed Mr Johnson in a confidence vote less than three weeks ago told The Independent that he and others could no longer support the prime minister.Tory chair Oliver Dowden quit, citing the “distress and disappointment” of party members over the Partygate scandal and saying: “Someone must take responsibility.”And former leader Michael Howard suggested that other ministers should now follow him out of the cabinet as he became the latest grandee to call for the prime minister to go.Mr Johnson himself insisted he would not “crumple”, and Downing Street dismissed calls for him to return to London from a nine-day trip abroad, taking in summits of the Commonwealth, G7 and Nato, to steady his restive party.Veteran MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown was among those calling on the PM to “come home” and outline how to “resolve the really serious situation the country is in”.The calls came as one cabinet minister told The Independent that “the mood has shifted” following the double defeats, with indications that would-be successors to Mr Johnson were making steps towards more solid leadership campaigns.One senior backbencher told The Independent: “I voted for Boris last time but I just can’t see any way out of it for him right now.“It is now a question of when, not if. The public have made up their minds. We got it wrong in hanging on to John Major in the Nineties and we can’t get it wrong a second time with Johnson.“He’s not helping himself with the message he has sent out after the results, saying he is staying on.“It sounds like he is saying, ‘I’m putting myself first and clinging on as long as possible’. That will make a lot of his supporters think, ‘I came into politics to serve the country and the party, not to serve you’.”Rebel Tories were preparing for a battle to claim a majority on the influential 1922 Committee, which holds the power to change party rules and bring forward a second vote on Mr Johnson’s future.Andrew Bridgen told The Independent he will stand in next month’s elections to the committee’s 18-member executive on a platform of scrapping a rule that requires a 12-month gap between confidence votes. Other MPs said they expect a Downing Street bid to pack the executive with loyalists to stave off a new challenge.Potential contenders in any leadership battle are believed to be hoping that Mr Johnson’s removal can be achieved through a vote staged by the backbench committee, in order to avoid them dashing their prospects by being seen as “the one who wields the knife”.But Johnson critics saw a visit from “the men in grey suits” as a more likely outcome, with one telling The Independent that many of the 211 MPs who backed the PM in the 6 June confidence vote had already factored in the by-election disasters.“The ’22 executive will tell him to move on or the cabinet will tell him to move on or the chief whip will tell him to move on,” said one. “If that doesn’t happen, there’ll be another vote, but either way he’ll be gone by the end of the year.”A current member of the executive confirmed that there was nothing in the rules to prevent an MP from standing on a mandate to change them.But some rebels believe this will not be necessary, as chair Sir Graham Brady would be forced to act if it becomes obvious that the majority of MPs want change.One senior MP who has previously submitted a letter of no confidence in Johnson told The Independent: “The prime minister has lost the trust of the country and it appears he is neither a winner in the red wall or the blue wall. Of course he should resign. He is dragging everybody down by lingering on.“But I have no expectation that he will. I don’t think we have long to wait until he is forced out, but that is in the hands of the ’22.“Further cabinet resignations would help, but I don’t think any of them will do it. They have either drunk the Kool-Aid or taken the 30 pieces of silver.”Lib Dems celebrate by-election by unveiling door aimed at Boris to resignAll eyes in Westminster were on Mr Dowden, to see whether the former culture secretary aligns himself with any potential candidate for succession. He is close to chancellor Rishi Sunak, who was quick to tweet his sadness at seeing him leave.A jubilant Keir Starmer said that Labour’s recapture of Wakefield by a margin of 4,925, overturning a Tory majority of 3,358 from the 2019 election, showed that the country has “lost confidence in the Tories” and that his party was “ready for government”.And Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said his party’s remarkable victory in Tiverton – converting a 24,239 Tory lead into a majority of 6,144 for Lib Dem Richard Foord on a 29.9 per cent swing – amounted to a message from the people of Britain to the PM that “it really is time he left”.The third Lib Dem incursion deep into traditional Tory territory, following by-election triumphs in Chesham & Amersham and North Shropshire, sent shivers down the spines of many Conservative MPs whose safe seats now look vulnerable. The east Devon constituency was the Conservatives’ 40th-safest seat, and 284 of the party’s MPs have smaller majorities.Mr Johnson’s appearance at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Rwanda was completely overshadowed by the electoral meltdown at home.He took solace, at a press conference in the capital Kigali, from his own by-election triumph in Hartlepool in May 2021, telling reporters: “I’m not going to pretend that these are brilliant results. We’ve got to listen, we’ve got to learn.“But it wasn’t that long ago – only just over a year ago – that we won a spectacular by-election victory.“When people are finding it tough, they send messages to politicians and politicians have got to respond, and that’s what we’re doing.”But just hours after the PM insisted he would “keep going”, his position was brutally undermined by Lord Howard, who broke his silence on the leadership question to call for him to go.“The party, and more importantly the country, would be better off under new leadership,” the former leader told the BBC, adding: “Members of the cabinet should very carefully consider their positions.”Public shows of support for the prime minister from senior colleagues were thin on the ground.Loyalist Nadine Dorries brushed aside the significance of the by-elections, saying that Margaret Thatcher had suffered similar setbacks before going on to victory in the 1980s. And attorney general Suella Braverman ascribed the mid-term defeats to “a dishonest electoral pact” between Lib Dems and Labour.But Mr Johnson’s former Brexit supremo Lord Frost, a highly influential figure on the right of the party, said it was “a terrible night and we will lose if we don’t change things”.And the leader of the Tories in Wales, Andrew RT Davies, said it must be getting “more challenging” for the PM to convince himself that he can deliver for those who put him in office.Former justice secretary Sir Robert Buckland, who continues to back Mr Johnson’s leadership, said he has told the PM personally that he must “look in the mirror and do better” and the Conservative Party is “about more than one man”. More

The US Supreme Court decision to overturn the Roe vs Wade ruling on abortion rights is “a big step backwards”, prime minister Boris Johnson has said.Six conservative justices, who now make up a majority on the nine-member court, ended constitutional protections for abortion care in a landmark ruling that could lead to far-reaching consequences for millions of Americans.Speaking at a press conference in Rwanda shortly after the ruling, Mr Johnson said that the US ruling would have “massive impacts on people’s thinking around the world”.And he said: “I’ve got to tell you, I think it’s a big step backwards. I’ve always believed in a woman’s right to choose and I stick to that view and that’s why the UK has the laws that it does.”In reference to recent measures by the Westminster government to ensure access to abortion for women in Northern Ireland, Mr Johnson said: “Actually, if you look, we recently took steps to make sure that those laws were enforced throughout the UK.”Mr Johnson acknowledged that he was stepping outside prime ministers’ normal practice of avoiding commenting on the internal affairs of friendly countries, saying: “This is not our court, it’s another jurisdiction, but clearly it has massive impacts on people’s thinking around the world. It’s a very important decision.” More

Boris Johnson fails to deny he offered Carrie Symonds top jobFormer Conservative Party leader Michael Howard has called on Boris Johnson to resign following the disastrous double defeat at by-elections in Wakefield and Tiverton.The Tory peer – who has remained quiet on the question of the leadership – also suggested that cabinet ministers should consider moving against the PM if he clings on at No 10.Earlier, Oliver Dowden quit his role as Tory Party chair because he “can’t go on defending the indefensible”, a senior Tory has suggested.Mr Dowden, a cabinet minister, resigned shortly after the Conservatives lost byelections in Wakefield and Tiverton & Honiton, where Partygate was again raised by voters on the doorstep.The PM has insisted that he will “keep going” at No 10 despite the crushing double by-election losses.Simon Lightwood won for Labour in Wakefield in West Yorkshire after gaining 13,166 votes to the Conservatives 8,231. Meanwhile, The Liberal Democrats’ Richard Foord won convincingly in Devon gaining 22,537 votes overturning a 24,000 Tory majority.Show latest update

1656081392Attorney general backs PM after by-election defeats The attorney general has spoken in support of Boris Johnson, following the Conservatives’ crushing by-election defeats yesterday. Suella Braverman said the prime minister was to thank for the party’s significant majority in 2019, saying this success has “not been undermined in any way” by recent defeats. Speaking to the BBC, she said: “Whilst we have these two disappointing results today, I don’t think those should be extrapolated across to read as a reflection on Boris Johnson’s leadership.“I think right now we’ve got to learn the lessons from these elections, for sure, but also focus on the national priorities,” she added.Rory Sullivan24 June 2022 15:361656080121The 6 weirdest Liberal Democrat election victory stuntsThe Liberal Democrats have sometimes struggled to get media attention, usually losing out in column inches to Labour and the Tories.As a result the party has developed a flair for imaginative and eye-catching media stunts. Today Ed Davey and his party’s new MP for Tiverton and Honiton, Richard Foord, stood in front of a blue door which had “show Boris Johnson the door” written across it.Our policy correspondent, Jon Stone, takes a look back at some of the other props the party has used at elections in the past: Matt Mathers24 June 2022 15:151656079242Readers poll: If Boris Johnson is removed from office, who should replace him?Boris Johnson is facing fresh questions about his premiership after leading the Tories to two byelection defeats last night in Wakefield and Tiverton & Honiton.If he is eventually ousted from 10 Downing Street, who would you like to see replace him?Have your say in our readers poll, which can be found via the link below: Matt Mathers24 June 2022 15:001656078588Johnson ultra-loyalist Nadine Dorries backs PM – but other cabinet ministers remain silentBoris Johnson ultra-loyalist Nadine Dorries has rowed in behind the prime minister following last night’s byelection defeats, saying he is delivering for the country.Rishi Sunak, the chancellor; Dominic Raab, the deputy PM and justice secretary and Priti Patel, the home secretary, have also voiced their support for the Big Dog – after Oliver Dowden resigned.But a significant number of other cabinet ministers – including Liz Truss, the foreign secretary – have remained silent. Ms Trusss is currently in Rwanda for the Commonwealth leaders’ summit.“Great to be in Kigali for @CHOGM2022 for discussions on how we build a stronger, more resilient Commonwealth,” Ms Truss tweeted earlier. “As a group of democratic nations, the Commonwealth has a vital role to play in defending freedom and self-determination, and acting as a counterweight to malign actors.”Other senior cabinet minister who have not commented on the defeats in Wakefield and Tiverton include Sajid Javid (health), Ben Wallace (defence), Nadhim Zahawi (education) and Kwasi Kwarteng (business).Matt Mathers24 June 2022 14:491656077527Video: Former Tory leader Michael Howard says PM should resign after by-election defeatFormer Tory leader Michael Howard says Johnson should resign after by-election defeatRory Sullivan24 June 2022 14:321656076807Johnson a ‘very unpopular’ PM living in ‘parallel universe’, says former Tory MPNeil Parish, the Tory MP who resigned after watching porn in the Commons, has said the prime minister is “very unpopular” and is living in a “parallel universe”. Mr Parish’s former constituency of Tiverton & Honiton was won by the Liberal Democrats in yesterday’s by-election. “Full credit to the Lib Dems for winning, but it’s a combination of our vote dropping dramatically, people switching, people staying at home and a very unpopular prime minister, which people have tactically voted against,” Mr Parish told Sky News after the result. “I feel responsible in as much as I had to leave. I made a very foolish and bad mistake but I did the honourable thing and left.”“He (the PM) has many good qualities. The trouble is he can’t just keep living in a parallel universe, there has to be reality,” the former MP added. Rory Sullivan24 June 2022 14:201656075547PM’s position now ‘more challenging’, says Welsh Tory leader The leader of the Welsh Conservatives has become the latest Tory to suggest Boris Johnson’s premiership is growing ever “more challenging”. Andrew RT Davies said: “Each and every day the prime minister gets up, like any leader, they have to look in the mirror and ask themselves ‘can they continue to deliver for their country and for the people who have put them into office?’“I presume that’s getting far more challenging when the prime minister looked in the mirror these days with the messages that are coming from the ballot box such as by-elections we had last night.”Rory Sullivan24 June 2022 13:591656074407Voices: Labour’s win in Wakefield is not enough to put Keir Starmer in No 10Labour and the Liberal Democrats seemingly had a lot to celebrate this morning after convincing by-election victories over the Conservatives in Wakeford and Tiverton & Honiton. However, our political commentator John Rentoul believes the margin of victory indicates that Labour will struggle to win a majority at the next election. Read more here: Rory Sullivan24 June 2022 13:401656073207Tory minister hits out at Dowden over resignation Environment minister Zac Goldsmith appears to have criticised Oliver Dowden for resigning as chair of the Conservative party. The Tory peer, who is a close Johnson ally, tweeted a video of Mr Dowden on Friday along with the words: “Many, if not most politicians will enthusiastically embrace an idea if they think it helps them personally, but they will just as enthusiastically ditch it if they think that helps their fortunes. This is true of all parties.”Rory Sullivan24 June 2022 13:201656071845Lib Dems refuse to speculate about chances at next election Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, has refused to say how many seats his party would like to win at the next general election. This comes after their victory in the Tiverton by-election yesterday. “It is difficult to say as we are maybe two years from a general election,” Sir Ed said.“The fact we have won three parliamentary by-elections in just over 12 months suggests we are going to make advances and are going to get rid of a lot of Conservative MPs.“It is too early to put a number on it but we certainly intend to get rid of a lot of Conservative MPs.”Rory Sullivan24 June 2022 12:57 More

Former Conservative party leader Michael Howard has called on Boris Johnson to resign following the disastrous double defeat at by-elections in Wakefield and Tiverton.The Tory peer – who has remained quiet on the question of the leadership – also suggested that cabinet ministers should consider moving against the PM if he clings on at No 10.“The party and more importantly the country would be better off under new leadership,” he told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme on Friday.In a call for action, the senior figure added: “Members of the cabinet should very carefully consider their positions.”Although Mr Johnson has a 12-month grace-period after winning a recent confidence vote, Mr Howard said the 1922 committee of backbenchers could now change their rules to allow a fresh challenge.“It may be necessary for the executive of the 1922 committee to meet and to decide to change the rules so another leadership could take place,” he said.“It may be necessary for the executive of the 1922 committee to meet and to decide to change the rules so another leadership could take place,” he said.Lord Howard said he had come to his conclusions “very reluctantly”. But he said the events of the last 24 hours had shown that his own personal view was also “representative of the country as a whole.” Tory rebels have been pressing Conservative grandees in the House of Lords to come out publicly against Mr Johnson in recent weeks. Lord Howard’s comments follow Tory chair Oliver Dowden’s stinging resignation in the wake of the party’s crushing losses in Devon and west Yorkshire – saying he shared the feelings of supporters “distressed” by recent events.In his letter to the PM Mr Dowden said: “We cannot carry on with business as usual. Somebody must take responsibility and I have concluded that, in these circumstances, it would not be right for me to remain in office.”Mr Johnson was said to be surprised by Mr Dowden’s resignation and spoke to chancellor Rishi Sunak and chief whip Chris Heaton-Harris by phone soon afterwards, according to a Tory source.Asked if he feared Mr Dowden was acting as an outrider for a possible leadership challenge from someone like Mr Sunak, the source said: “What do I know, but I’d be astonished if it was the chancellor.”Mr Sunak later said he was “sad” over the resignation of Mr Dowden but added he was “determined to continue working to tackle the cost of living”.Home secretary Priti Patel predicted that Mr Dowden would be the only minister to resign today, and said the PM told her he would be “cracking on with task” after the by-election defeats.But backbench Tory MP Sir Roger Gale, who has repeatedly called for Mr Johnson to go, said further resignations were possible and claimed the party was “spoilt for choice” when it came to potential replacements.Gavin Barwell, former No 10 chief of staff under Theresa May, urged MPs “to wake up before it is too late”, adding: “Finally someone in the cabinet says ‘Enough is enough’,” he said on Mr Dowden’s exit.Senior Tory MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, treasurer of the 1922 committee, said there is “no doubt” it would be “difficult to hold” his seat if there were a by-election in his Cotswolds constituency now.Sir Geoffrey, who voted against Mr Johnson at the recent confidence vote, would not be drawn on whether the 1922 committee could change their rules to allow another confidence vote within 12 months.But he said the Conservatives will have “some difficult decisions to make” and could consider again “whether we should actually take steps to have a new prime minister.”Former minister Sir Robert Buckland said he has told Mr Johnson he needs to “look in the mirror and do better”, but told Sky News the Conservative Party is “about more than one man”. He added: ““I don’t think throwing over the captain now would be the right response.”James Johnson, former pollster at No 10, said there was “only one person to blame” for the Wakefield result – which saw Keir Starmer’s party win by 5,000 votes – pointing to Mr Johnson as the main reason swing voters cited for opting for Labour.The Lib Dems swept to victory in Devon, where Richard Foord overcame a Tory majority of 24,239 votes and won by more than 6,000 – the largest ever majority overturned at a by-election.Former No 10 adviser Tim Montgomerie said the “massive” result in Tiverton showed Mr Johnson had to go. “This is a crisis for the Conservative party,” he told Sky News. More