Five more Conservative MPs are preparing to submit letters of no confidence in Boris Johnson, according to reports.

A member of the government could even join the plotters after the publication of Sue Gray’s ‘update’ on Downing Street parties failed to quell discontent within the Conservative Party.

On Wednesday, three more Tory MPs confirmed publicly that they had written to 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady, who needs to receive 54 letters before a vote is triggered.

It now means that 13 backbenchers have told the PM to go due to his handling of ‘partygate’, that has provoked such anger among the electorate.

They could be about to be joined by five more rebel MPs as early as today, The Times reported.

The latest plan to oust the PM has been dubbed by some as the ‘cream tea coup’ as two of the MPs to speak out – Anthony Mangnall and Sir Gary Streeter – represent seats in Devon.

Mr Johnson himself however has rejected calls to resign and said he wants to run again at the next general election in 2024.

He told The Sun in an interview: ‘I am getting on with the job and I will do so for as long as I have the privilege and honour to serve in this position.’

Long-standing MP Sir Gary was the latest to publicly announce he’d submitted a letter of no confidence on Wednesday evening.

The South West Devon MP, who first entered the Commons in 1992, said he had made his decision following Ms Gray’s initial assessment in her update published on Monday.

He said he had taken the step because he ‘cannot reconcile the pain and sacrifice’ of the vast majority of the public with the ‘attitude and activities’ of those in Downing Street.

Earlier in the day, Mr Mangnall, who represents Totnes, tweeted: ‘Standards in public life matter. At this time I can no longer support the PM.’

He followed senior Conservative Tobias Ellwood, a former minister who chairs the Commons Defence Committee, who used an interview with Sky News to publicly state he has lost confidence in Mr Johnson.

‘This is just horrible for all MPs to continuously have to defend this to the British public,’ he told Sky News.

‘I don’t think the Prime Minister realises how worried colleagues are in every corner of the party, backbenchers and ministers alike, that this is all only going one way and will invariably slide towards a very ugly place.’

The trio followed Peter Aldous and Sir Charles Walker a former acting chairman of the 1922 Committee, who called for Mr Johnson’s resignation late on Tuesday.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, who is fiercely loyal to the PM, described the rebel Tories as ‘selfish’, attempting to dismiss them as ‘a handful of egos’ who ‘want to make it all about them’.

Sources inside Downing Street told the Daily Mail the latest effort to remove Mr Johnson is being dubbed the ‘Cream Tea Coup’.

They conceded they feared the push was being coordinated, but they played down the significance of the three letters being submitted, saying none of the trio was a ‘big surprise’. 

Mr Johnson has tried to turn the conversation around in recent days by focusing on the situation in Ukraine, his ‘levelling up’ agenda and the cost of living crisis.

But some of his own MPs seem intent to keep ‘partygate’ in the headlines as the police continue to investigate alleged rule-breaking.

Questions remain over whether Mr Johnson was at one of the gatherings in his own flat on November 13, 2020.

This was the day his former aide Dominic Cummings had been ousted from Downing Street and an alleged ‘victory party’ took place among those who opposed the Brexiteer’s methods.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Johnson again refused to say whether he had been at the alleged party after reports said he had been seen going upstairs that night.

Downing Street told reporters that Metropolitan Police officers have not yet contacted the Prime Minister about a potential police interview.

Tory MPs who’ve called on Boris Johnson to stand down (so far)

1. Douglas Ross – leader of the Scottish Tories
2. William Wragg – 1922 Committee vice chairman 
3. David Davis – former Brexit Secretary 
4. Sir Roger Gale – MP for North Thanet
5. Caroline Nokes – MP for Romsey and Southampton North 
6. Andrew Bridgen – MP for North West Leicestershire
7. Tim Loughton – MP for East Worthing and Shoreham
8. Aaron Bell – MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme
9. Peter Aldous – MP for Waveney
10. Tobias Ellwood – Defence Committee chairman
11. Christian Wakeford – MP for Bury South who defected to Labour
12. Anthony Mangnall – MP for Totnes and South Devon
13. Andrew Mitchell, former minister and MP for Sutton Coldfield
14. Sir Gary Streeter, MP for South West Devon

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