​​Boris Johnson has been thrown under the bus, claims Tory MP - 'Very, very unfair'

Brendan Clarke-Smith, the Conservative MP for Bassetlaw and a close ally of the former Prime Minister, said the party had moved on from its ex-leader.

But he insisted Johnson - who according to one poll today is now less popular with the British public than Phillip Schofield and Xi Jinping - had been treated appallingly and vowed to continue supporting him.

He said: "What we don't want to see is one of our colleagues thrown under the bus and treated very poorly.

"That's what this is really about. It's it's not about Boris making some big comeback or anything like that. It's about someone being able to leave office with dignity. And we think that what he's been subjected to is very, very unfair

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"The conclusions seem very spiteful and vindictive. Not just the 90 day suspension but taking his [former member's] pass off him as well, which is unprecedented for a former Prime Minister."

He added: "Really, we just want to see the right thing done by him, as I would with any colleague.

"If someone on the other benches was treated this way, I'd be saying the same thing.

"I've been quite vocal about this, saying that I refuse to vote for this report and I would vote against it."

Earlier this week Johnson accused the Privileges Committee of making “Mystic Meg” claims and reaching a “deranged conclusion”, in a blistering response to its report.

He released a 1,678-word statement lashing out at the Tory-majority group of MPs after they found he committed “repeated contempts” of Parliament by deliberately misleading the Commons with his Partygate denials and being complicit in a campaign of abuse and intimidation of the committee.

But Johnson, who previously branded it a “kangaroo court”, continued his attacks on the panel and its findings, which he described as “a load of complete tripe”.

He repeatedly targeted committee chairwoman Harriet Harman, accusing her of holding “prejudicial views”, as well as the panel’s most senior Conservative member, Sir Bernard Jenkin.

He has now urged his supporters to back down, urging them not to demand a vote on the report in Parliament if one is not called.

Clarke-Smith added: "It's just such a appalling set of sanctions. I have doubts about how the report came to its conclusions in the first place about chairmanship issues and about all sorts of other things.

"So part of me actually wants to see people walk through those lobbies, justify it to their constituents, justify it to their members, why they voted the way they did."

Clarke-Smith, 42, who grew up on a Nottingham council estate and has been an MP since 2019, also conceded the Tories have a huge fight to keep 'Red Wall' seats, including his own, at the next election.

He said: "There's no such thing as a safe seat. And I think when you have that attitude, that's how you do lose.

"You have to work hard and you should never take voters for granted. That's part of the reason people like me got elected, because Labour were taking people for granted in these seats.

"We've got at least four by-elections coming up now and voters will look at whether they think the member of Parliament's done a good job.

"I've tried to focus on local issues here. I've tried to be a good MP and I would hope that I'd be rewarded with that. But of course that's that's not doubting. It's a very difficult time for us and we should take nothing for granted."