BORIS Johnson will carry out a mini reshuffle this afternoon as part of the continued reset to save his embattled premiership.
The PM will rearrange some of his ministers to shore up his top team as the threat of a leadership battle looms.
HOAR revealed earlier this week that Chief Whip Mark Spencer was in line for demotion after failing to stop mutinous Tory MPs moving against the PM.
One of the PM’s long-time pals like Chris Pincher or Nigel Adams could slot into the role to help strengthen his position.
Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg could also be shunted aside into a new Brexit Opportunities Unit.
The PM will also shuffle the pack to help ease the load on Cabinet Office Minister Steve Barclay who has taken on the dual role of No10 chief of staff.
Downing Street said it would not be a wholesale Cabinet reshuffle after only overhauling his top team last September.
Mr Johnson has resolved to cling on in Downing Street and vowed it would take a “division of tanks” to chuck him out of power.
Fifteen Tory MPs have publicly broken ranks to demand the PM resigns, nine of whom have declared to have submitted letters of no confidence.
No10 is anxiously waiting to see if the 54-letter threshold is met to trigger a vote in the PM’s leadership.
LETTER OF THE LAW
Mr Johnson is pleading with backbenchers to hold off filing their letters until the conclusion of the Met’s report into Downing St parties during lockdown.
But he is under more pressure today after coming under fresh fire for his Jimmy Savile slur against Sir Keir Starmer.
Ten Tory MPs have publicly demanded the PM withdraw the controversial remarks after the Labour leader was swarmed by a baying mob last night.
Thugs targeted Sir Keir outside Parliament, yelling that he was a “traitor” and accusing him of “protecting paedophiles”.
He and shadow foreign sec David Lammy had to be bundled into a cop car and rushed away to safety.
Protesters were also shouting anti-vaxx chants and made calls to free Julian Assange.
But the ugly scenes poured petrol on the row over the PM’s claims that Sir Keir failed to prosecute Savile when he was director of public prosecutions.
The PM has backtracked from his remarks made last Monday – saying he did not hold his Labour foe directly responsible – but has refused to apologise.
And this morning he stood firm on his position and did not bow to calls to say sorry.
Minister Chris Philp, sent out to defend the PM on telly, pointed out Sir Keir had himself apologised that sex offender Savile was not prosecuted on his watch.
He also denied claims last night’s scenes were a direct result of the PM’s remarks during PMQs in the Commons.
He said: “[The protesters] did mention Jimmy Savile. They also mentioned Julian Assange repeatedly, they mentioned Covid, they also mentioned the opposition more generally.
“I don’t think you can point to what the Prime Minister said as the cause of that. You certainly can’t blame him for the fact that that mob were clearly behaving in a totally unacceptable way.
“You certainly can’t say that what he said in any way prompted, provoked or justified the harassment and intimidation we saw last night.”
