DOUGLAS Ross has urged Boris Johnson’s cabinet to move against him and force him out of Downing Street.

The Scottish Tory leader said he did not agree with rewriting the rules to allow a new confidence vote in the PM, and it was up to “those sitting around the cabinet table” to act.

Mr Ross voted against Mr Johnson remaining Prime Minister in the confidence vote of Tory MPs on June 6, which the PM won by 211 to 148, or 59 to 41 per cent.

Under the current rules of the backbench 1922 committee, there can be no repeat vote for a year, but Mr Johnson’s critics are hoping to rewrite the rules to have one sooner.

The Prime Minister this weekend revealed he was already considering how to spend his third term in power, meaning he intends to be in Downing Street into the 2030s.

He was branded “delusional” after making the comment following a disastrous double byelection loss on Thursday, when Labour regained the Red Wall seat of Wakefield in West Yorkshire and the Liberal Democrats had a record-breaking win in Tiverton & Honiton in Devon.

Mr Ross told BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show that he wanted Mr Johnson to quit, but it would be “wrong” to change the rules of the 1922 committee to bring it about.

He suggested cabinet secretaries could follow the example of former Tory co-chairman Oliver Dowden who quit his post and left the cabinet on Friday morning saying somebody had to take responsibility.

If other cabinet ministers resigned or threatened to walk it would leave Mr Johnson unable to govern and demonstrate a fatal loss of confidence in him by his colleagues.

Mr Johnson’s popularity with voters has slumped since he won the 2019 general election with an 80-seat majority as a result of scandals over his conduct and judgment, particularly Partygate and the rash of law-breaking in Downing Street during the Covid pandemic lockdown.

Mr Ross suggested Mr Dowden, a close ally of Chancellor Rishi Sunak, may already be organising support against the Prime Minister.

He said: “It’s up to the whole parliamentary party and in particular those closest to him, those sitting round the cabinet table, to look at the impact this is having not just on the party but on the country as a whole.”

Asked what the cabinet should do, Mr Ross said: “Well I think clearly there will be discussions amongst colleagues.

“Oliver Dowden is a very well respected colleague. He was a very good party chairman and Secretary of State [for culture] before that.

“He will have spoken to others, I’m sure, since his resignation and members, particularly those close to the Prime Minister, will have to look at what is the best situation for the country.

“We cannot continue to keep on going losing election and election as we have in these two byelections and the difficult results that the party face in the local government elections in early May.”

The Tories lost around 500 councillors in local elections this May, and now face more local elections in England and Wales next year.

Mr Ross went on: “I’m a member of the 1922 Committee but I’m not on the executive committee and it is for the executive committee to look at rule changes.

“And clearly there is an election [for executive members]], I think, next week or the week after, and some candidates, their pitch is that they would change the rules.

“I personally don’t think we should change the rules midway through a process. I think that’s the wrong way to do it.

“But we saw with Theresa May, she lost a vote of the 1922 Committee and it didn’t take a rule change.

“She looked at the situation a few months on and she stepped down herself.”

Tory MP Andrew Bridgen is among those who has outlined plans to stand for the 1922 Committee’s executive role later this week on a manifesto pledge to change the rules which would allow a second vote of confidence to be held.