Downing Street party: Is 'pork pie plot' a serious threat to the PM?

As we talked about here on Monday night, Tory MPs can take steps to get rid of their leader without having to tell anyone about it other than Sir Graham Brady, the head honcho of the backbenches.

So it is always impossible to know how many of them at any one time really mean it when they say they are involved in trying to make a change.

But it most definitely is the case that conversations about doing so are on the rise.

A group of around 20 MPs that were first elected in 2019 are said to have met on Tuesday, after two other meetings recently, to talk about what to do.

And it's suggested there's a notion that they will as, a group, submit their letters to Sir Graham after Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday afternoon.

A couple that have spoken privately seem determined to do so.

But it is not clear at this stage how many of them will go through with it when the moment comes.

And we don't know that if they did, how close that tranche would take the number of letters to the threshold of 54, that could trigger a leadership contest.

It is clear though, worryingly for No 10, that their grouping has been in touch with other disaffected MPs.

Links across political generations, and across ideological groups, could form a dangerous circle for Mr Johnson.

Yet a member of the cabinet dismissed this potential move as being run by "idiots", who don't pose a serious threat to the PM, joking that their efforts were a "pork pie plot" because one of the group is Alicia Kearns, the MP for Rutland and Melton (home of the pork pie).

For her part, colleagues say Ms Kearns has been unfairly targeted and that she's not leading any rebellion.

And a member of the government also sounded a note of caution, saying: "Are we really going to get rid of a prime minister with a huge majority over a drinks party?"

Many Conservative MPs believe that it's better to wait at least to see what Sue Gray's official report into the No 10 shenanigans concludes.

Yet it seems tonight not all Tory members are willing to wait.