Rebel Tories plan ‘vote strikes’ to capitalise on PM’s weakened position

Rebel Conservative MPs are drawing up plans for "vote strikes" to paralyse law-making and capitalise on the dramatic Boris Johnson no-confidence vote.

Some of the 148 MPs who voted to oust the prime minister on Monday said they would try to stymie his government's legislative agenda, as happened at the end of the Theresa May era, by abstaining on key laws.

They plan to start with a showdown over a bill to override sections of the Northern Ireland protocol, to be published within days.

Johnson suffered a worse-than-expected rebellion on Monday, with 40% of MPs voting to remove him. Under current rules, he is protected from another no-confidence vote for a year.

Having used up their most powerful tool, rebels on Tuesday said they wanted to "flex our muscles" and "prove we're not going away".

Those who declared no confidence in the prime minister spanned different factions of the party - from soft left, "One Nation" Conservatives unhappy with his policies on deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda and privatising Channel 4, to those who believe his high-tax, high-spend approach is too leftwing.

Given the uncoordinated way the vote was triggered, rebels jokingly referred to themselves as a "coalition of chaos". Several said they had not been contacted by anyone encouraging them to vote Johnson out, claiming the swell of opposition was "organic".