MPs Call On Cameron To Resign

Sky News

Several Conservative MPs are calling for David Cameron to resign and are demanding a vote of no confidence.

According to The Sunday Telegraph, as many as six have written to the chairman of the 1922 Committee.

It follows months of dissent over his modernising strategy.

The newspaper report did not name any of the MPs supposedly involved, and aides indicated that it was not being taken seriously by the party leadership.

But its appearance will add to the pressure on Mr Cameron following a string of poor polls and the party's third place in this week's by-elections in Sedgefield and Ealing Southall.

A vote would automatically be triggered if letters were received from 15% of the parliamentary party - currently 29 MPs - as happened when Iain Duncan Smith was ousted as leader in 2003.

There is no prospect of that threshold being reached but any letters would indicate a level of concern on the Tory backbenches about the direction in which Mr Cameron is taking the party.

Discontent with his approach surfaced in the recent row over grammar schools, which saw Altrincham MP Graham Brady quit the frontbench in protest.

And there were criticisms of Mr Cameron's handling of the Ealing Southall by-election from some Tories.

Westminster MP Mark Field publicly criticised the campaign for alienating ethnic minorities in the constituency.

Mr Cameron's espousal of causes like climate change and social responsibility ahead of traditional Tory concerns like tax cuts and immigration have led to grumbling among right-wingers.