Tory 1922 Committee to double 'no confidence' threshold to make it harder to force out new leader

Bob Blackman said that the threshold to force a vote of no confidence in the party's new leader is likely to be lifted from 15pc to "at least 30pc" of the backbench party.

This means that 36 Tory MPs out of the party's 121 MPs will have to sign letters of no confidence to Blackman to force a new vote.

The new leader - Robert Jenrick or Kemi Badenoch will be unveiled on November 2 - cannot be challenged for the first year under existing rules, until November 3, 2025.

Blackman added: "Now we will amend those rules to increase the threshold.

"I am not going to say what it is going to be but I suspect it will be at least to 30 per cent to enable a position where there will have to be a very strong opinion of the Parliamentary party."

Blackman also said the 1922 Committee will review the rules on leadership elections to make it harder for MPs to force out Tory leaders when they are in Government.

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He said: "We are going to look at whether we should look at a different position in Opposition to when we are in Government because the reality is there is one thing to replace a leader in Opposition and another to replace a Prime Minister."

Speaking to GB News’ Political Editor Christopher Hope, Blackman said that the contest will not be shortened to allow the new leader to face Chancellor Rachel Reeves at the October 30 Budget.

He said: "We are not going to change the timetable. The reality is this. We have got to get our membership packs, our voting packs out to every single member.

"They have to go out by post next week, Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on printing deadlines. They should arrive by Friday or Saturday."

This will mean that the only agreed televised debate on GB News on Thursday night next week could be crucial to how members decide to vote.

He added: "Obviously they will have had the opportunity of watching a televised debate which I think you are adjudicating, you will be doing that before people vote.

"We've got to get those voting packs to everyone so they can vote either electronically or post their ballots back, we also have to get them to people living abroad.

"There may be postal problems, we are used to that and if there are, we may have to send out replacement packs. Were we to bring forward the contest the huge risk to us is that not all members would have the chance to vote."

The packs include instructions on how to vote, manifestos from each candidate, and ballot papers. Members who vote by post will have to pay for the stamps themselves.

Looking at the vote on Wednesday, when support for favourite James Cleverly surprisingly collapsed, Blackman said some of the MPs who were backing him "were a bit complacent".

He said: "I have to say if I am looking at this analytically maybe the camp that was supporting James was a bit complacent, maybe they tried to game the system. As I have always said - you try to game the system in an electorate like this, you have high risk."