The Conservative MP who organised the campaign that toppled Theresa May is running in party elections to prepare for a fresh push to bring down Boris Johnson.
Steve Baker hopes a seat on the executive of the powerful 1922 Committee of backbenchers will allow him to change the rules to allow another no-confidence vote – if necessary.
The serial rebel described the prime minister’s position as “intolerable” if he is found to have lied to parliament over the scandal of the No 10 parties, many of which he attended.
It comes as last week’s by-election defeats in Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton have sparked demands for a second vote on Mr Johnson’s leadership, with some Tory MPs understood to have resubmitted letters of no confidence to Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the 1922 Committee.
Meanwhile, as MPs prepare to debate his plans to rip up the Northern Ireland Protocol, Mr Johnson claimed the controversial legislation could be implemented in 2022.
