Theresa May should sack any disloyal ministers found to have leaked private details from cabinet or plotted against her leadership, the powerful 1922 Committee of backbenchers has said.

Three senior members of the group, which represents rank and file MPs, said May had their full support to reestablish discipline in her top team and rejected the idea of a leadership election. They moved to shore up May’s position after a weekend of damaging leaks and briefings from inside the cabinet, believed to be fuelled by some of those jostling to succeed the prime minister after her disastrous election result.

Graham Brady, the chair of the committee, told the Guardian the party was “clear that it is supporting Theresa May and there is no intention of holding a leadership election, which would be a huge distraction from the important job of government”. He added: “Colleagues on the backbenches are keen that the whole party should work together to serve the public interest.”

Nigel Evans and Charles Walker, two officials on the 1922, also said those talking of trying to depose May were in a minority and an overwhelming number of MPs wanted her to get on with her job in No 10.

May herself upbraided her cabinet for allowing details of last week’s meeting to be leaked to newspapers, seemingly to discredit the chancellor, Philip Hammond, for suggesting trains could be “even” by driven by women and that public sector workers were overpaid.

The prime minister opened Tuesday morning’s regular cabinet meeting by telling her colleagues: “There is a need to show strength and unity as a country and that starts around the cabinet table.”

It follows weeks of speculation that some allies of David Davis, the Brexit secretary, wanted to force her out. Tory MPs have revealed letters of no confidence are circulating, which can trigger a leadership election if enough are privately submitted to the chair of the 1922 Committee.

May tells cabinet that briefings show some of them 'not taking responsibilities seriously' - Politics live Read more

Evans, the committee’s secretary, told the Guardian: “It’s extremely unusual but the men in grey suits have gone to Theresa and said ‘you have our support if you find anyone plotting or on manoeuvres to get rid of them’.

“I think Theresa has done exactly the right thing. We spoke to her a couple of weeks ago and I spoke to her again last night at the reception saying you have the full authority of the 22 to crack the whip. Just as we have given her a second chance, the cabinet need to recognise as well that they have all got a job to do because they are not impressing the people they think they are impressing.

“They have got to chat to their spads [special advisers] and just say: ‘Shut up. Everything I say stays within this room.’ They can’t allow this thing to carry on and fester in the way that it is. I hope the guarantee they gave the prime minister today applies not just if any of them have been on manoeuvres, but if any of their spads have been on manoeuvres or any MPs friendly to them on manoeuvres.”

Charles Walker, the vice-chair of the body of backbenchers, said the group had informed the prime minister that they would back her if she wanted to sack disobedient members of the cabinet angling for a new leader.

“Nobody is irreplaceable. So while I respect our secretaries of state, that respect is diminished when there are briefings potentially done in their name or have their name attached to it,” Walker said.

“The committee had a meeting with the prime minister last week and unanimously made it clear to her that if she had to remove secretaries of state then she would have our support. The party is united behind the prime minister. Those who have leadership ambitions should really try to understand that.

“They are not doing themselves any favours at all ... There are a few outliers but the vast majority of MPs wish to see Theresa May continue as prime minister and hope that secretaries of state who have important jobs to do are focusing on those jobs and not talking to journalists.”

Walker told the BBC’s World at One that the former deputy prime minister Michael Heseltine should “shut up as well” after the Tory grandee said May was not sufficiently powerful to impose discipline.

“If you are a Conservative, as I believe most secretaries of state profess to be, you get on with the job, you stop chattering away and you stop colleagues chattering away on your behalf and promoting your interests and get on with promoting the country’s interests. That is the only thing that matters, promoting the country’s interests.

“I don’t care about their personal ambitions; I care about my country ... If you are a Conservative right now, you should be getting on with the business of running your department. There is no hope for these people. They will not get the support from rank and file MPs or middle-ranking ministers.”

Admitting he was very angry about the situation, Walker said he believed it was a message shared by “almost the entirety of the parliamentary party”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest (From left) Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Liam Fox arrive for the cabinet meeting at Downing Street. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

May’s effort to regain control was supported by Amber Rudd, who told Conservative MPs to get on with their jobs as the prime minister would be staying in place.



Speaking on Tuesday morning, the home secretary said: “I wholly support the prime minister in her views that we must all – as ministers and, indeed, backbenchers – get on with the job in hand. There is an important job of government to be done and … [ministers] are honoured to have their roles and I know they should be getting on, as some of them do, and delivering on what they have been asked to do.”

Asked if May should sack those found to be briefing against her and each other, Rudd insisted the cabinet was working well together.

She told Sky News: “What happens outside cabinet, with occasional briefings, as we saw over the weekend, is something else.”

Despite the efforts to end the feuding, some MPs believe the manoeuvres against May will continue after parliament’s summer break and potentially come to a head at the party’s autumn conference.