Senior Oxfordshire councillor says Boris Johnson must be replaced

The most senior Conservative councillor in Oxfordshire has said Boris Johnson must be replaced as prime minister.

Eddie Reeves, the Tories' leader on Oxfordshire County Council since May 2021, said the party will be replaced in government if he is not removed.

The Thames Valley's Police and Crime Commissioner, Matthew Barber, said Mr Johnson should quit earlier this month.

Mr Johnson said he is "actively thinking" about serving a third term. No 10 later suggested he was joking.

"Hitherto I've been reluctant to give interviews for the simple reason that it's up to MPs rather than councillors to select the leader or at least to defenestrate him if and when the time comes," Mr Reeves said.

"My view is that MPs have failed to take the necessary course of action and it's up to those of us in local government to steel our MPs to do the necessary.

"Otherwise we're going to be heading for a disaster. When I say disaster I mean a Labour minority government propped up by Lib Dem and at the worst SNP MPs."

BBC Radio Oxford asked all of Oxfordshire's four Conservative MPs to discuss Mr Johnson's future following their party's by-election defeats in Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton. All declined or failed to respond.

Anneliese Dodds, Oxford East's Labour MP, said Mr Johnson is "holding the country back on so many different issues".

"I think [Tory MPs] need to stand up and be counted now," she said.

Mr Barber said keeping Mr Johnson in place would "prolong pain for the party and for the country" earlier this month, before he faced a confidence vote of MPs.

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