Ex-cabinet minister Sir Simon Clarke will call for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to resign

EX-CABINET Minister Sir Simon Clarke is calling for Rishi Sunak to quit.

The top Tory went public with the demand for a new PM after the Government slumped to just 20 per cent in one survey.

1

Sir Simon said it was “devastatingly obvious” the Tories are heading for defeat.

The move comes after 60 MPs last week defied party whips to demand the PM toughen up his flagship migration policies.

One leading rebellion organiser said last night: “The country has had enough and many MPs have had enough. Rishi is leading us to electoral oblivion."

They added: "The polling shows he’s a drag on the party and that another Conservative leader could quite easily turn the tide against Starmer who is also a dud.

"There’s no point in going quietly into the night to be killed - we have to fight. Rishi cannot deliver any message that the public wants to hear.

"We can and must change to have any chance of a respectable outing at the election.

“This is a question of whether we want to spend five years or ten years out of government.”

But a Senior Tory spokesman hit back: “This is a self-indulgent attempt to undermine the government at a critical moment for the country.

“He may claim to be helping the party but the only person he is doing any favours for is Sir Keir Starmer.”

Going public in the Telegraph, Mr Clarke pointed to recent polls showing a 1997-style wipeout for the Tories.

He wrote: "The unvarnished truth is that Rishi Sunak is leading the Conservatives into an election where we will be massacred.

"Denial of impending catastrophe is an extraordinarily powerful human instinct."

The ex-Cabinet Minister, one of 11 Rwanda rebels last week, said Mr Sunak had "gone from asset to anchor".

Mr Clarke blasted: "He lags Keir Starmer — himself no Tony Blair — by double digits on the 'Best Prime Minister”'metric."

Trying to stir a full-throated rebellion, he called on other Tory MPs to follow his lead and demand a new leader.

He said: "Every Conservative MP will need to live with the decision they make in the coming days for the rest of their lives. Failing to act would itself represent a decision.

"We have a clear choice. Stick with Rishi Sunak, take the inevitable electoral consequences, and give the Left a blank cheque to change Britain as they see fit.

"Or we can change leader, and give our country and party a fighting chance."