Minister echoes Thatcher as he says Boris ‘wants to go on and on’

BORIS JOHNSON would like to “go on and on”, a Cabinet minister said today, as Conservative rebels plot fresh moves against the Prime Minister.

With Mr Johnson out of the country until Thursday at the G7 meeting of world leaders and then at a Nato summit in Spain, some Tory MPs are privately discussing whether the party’s rules could be changed to allow a second confidence vote on the PM.

Asked today whether he was worried about members of his Cabinet and Tory MPs plotting while he was abroad, Mr Johnson pointed to his victory in a vote on his leadership earlier this month, telling broadcasters: “No we settled that a couple of weeks ago.”

Last week’s by-election defeats for the Tories in Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton triggered the resignation of party chairman Oliver Dowden, and Tory ex-leaders Lord Hague and Lord Howard called for Mr Johnson to quit.

However, the PM said at the weekend that he was thinking about a “third term” in office, raising the prospect of him remaining in power into the 2030s.

Environment Secretary George Eustice today said Mr Johnson would like to “go on and on”, echoing remarks by Margaret Thatcher in 1987 as she campaigned for her third general election victory. She quit as PM three years later after failing to win outright in the first round of a leadership vote.

Mr Eustice, right, told Times Radio: “Yes he would like to go on and on but to be honest we also understand there are a lot of hurdles to clear.”

Asked on BBC Breakfast to explain the PM’s remarks about a third term, the Cabinet minister said: “He has got no plans to go at the moment. He has got people on his back, people saying should you go, why don’t you go? The point he was making is that he is going to carry on. He has the support of the Cabinet to carry on.” Mr Johnson won the confidence vote held by the 1922 Committee of backbench Tories by 211-148, although 41 per cent of the MPs voted against him following criticism of lockdown parties in Downing Street. Under 1922 Committee rules, a leader cannot face a second challenge inside a year. However, MPs are set to nominate members to the 1922 executive committee before the summer parliamentary recess, with rebels looking to win a majority that could allow them to change the rules. Mr Eustice acknowledged that the 148 Tory MPs who voted against their leader was a “big cause for concern”. Senior Tory MP David Davis and 1922 executive committee vice chair William Wragg said it would be wrong to change the rules.