The Tories have plummeted to a staggering 32 points behind Labour in London as the “Partygate” devastates Boris Johnson’s premiership.
The huge gap between Labour and the Conservatives is the biggest in a YouGov survey of the capital for 12 years, according to the Evening Standard.
If replicated at a general election, it could see Johnson’s Tories lose eight seats in the city – leaving them with just 13 London MPs.
In another damning revelation, the poll showed that two-thirds of Londoners believe the prime minister should resign.
‘Not an honest account’
Four out of five believe Johnson has not been honest in responding to allegations of lockdown-busting Downing Street parties, including 69 per cent of Tory voters.
Nearly three-quarters of Londoners think the prime minister’s claim that he believed the 20 May 2020 “bring your own booze” party was a work event is “not an honest account”.
A similar proportion of Londoners say the Metropolitan Police should investigate the parties.
Labour now sits on 55 per cent in the capital, with the Tories on 23 per cent, the Liberal Democrats nine per cent, Greens seven per cent and Reform UK three per cent.
Patrick English, Political Research Manager at YouGov, said: “Clearly, this poll is not good news for the Prime Minister and the Conservatives in London.
“It is the largest Labour lead we have seen in the capital since at least 2010, and if it were replicated at a General Election the Conservatives could lose as many as eight constituencies, leaving them with just 13 London MPs.
“Labour might gain up to six seats, increasing their London total to 55, while the Lib Dems would move up to five.”
No confidence vote
Johnson will now face an increasingly angry chorus of his own MPs amid reports the 54 letters which would launch a no confidence vote in the PM could be received on Wednesday.
Reports on Tuesday night suggested MPs furious at the prime minister’s handling of the partygate scandal engulfing Westminster had been angered further by Johnson’s insistence that nobody had told him a party at Downing Street would break rules he himself had set.
And that especially those in the 2019 intake, many of whom have slim majorities after votes were “lent” to them during the last election, were preparing to submit their letters to the chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench MPs, Sir Graham Brady.
Bury South MP Christian Wakeford – who has a majority of just 402 – became the seventh Conservative MP to publicly call for Johnson to go on Tuesday, according to Yahoo News.
But a number of newspapers reported that the plot to oust Johnson was far wider, as he will attempt to reassure his party when he appears in the Commons for Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.
An expected announcement that Plan B measures to stem the spread of coronavirus will be lifted next week is likely to please some backbenchers.
But MPs from the former so-called Red Wall were said to have met on Tuesday to discuss Johnson’s future in a gathering nicknamed the “pork pie plot” or the “pork pie putsch”, and one told The Daily Telegraph the 15 per cent of letters needed to trigger a challenge could be reached on Wednesday.
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