Boris Johnson is preparing a new bid to become Prime Minister as Theresa May’s grip on No 10 becomes increasingly fragile.

A close ally of the Foreign Secretary said last night it was ‘go-go-go’ for Mr Johnson’s leadership push, adding: ‘We need Bojo. We need a Brexiteer. We need somebody who can talk and connect with people like Jeremy Corbyn does. We need someone who can make Britain believe in itself again.’

Mr Johnson’s supporters are being careful to say that he will not take any action while Mrs May remains in No 10 – but the fact that his allies are actively briefing about his virtues will be seen in Downing Street as destabilising.

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Boris Johnson is preparing a new bid to become Prime Minister as Theresa May’s grip on No 10 becomes increasingly fragile, but the Foreign Secretary won't take any action while Theresa May is in power

Talk of his leadership bid came as Mrs May was rocked by the resignations of the two Downing Street advisers who have been blamed for the Election disaster – and a Mail on Sunday poll which found that half of voters want her to quit.

Such is the febrile atmosphere that The Mail on Sunday was even told that allies of Mr Johnson believe he has secured the support of Michael Gove. But friends of Mr Gove – who was Mr Johnson’s rival for the leadership in last year’s contest – dispute this.

Mrs May last night won the backing of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist MPs in order to shore up her precarious position, in a deal that would offer her the prospect of a working majority in the Commons.

The MoS Survation poll found that 49 per cent of all voters want Mrs May to resign, with only 38 per cent wanting her to stay put

The MoS Survation poll found that 49 per cent of all voters want Mrs May to resign, with only 38 per cent wanting her to stay put. And out of the contenders to replace her, Mr Johnson outscores his nearest rival, Chancellor Philip Hammond, by a margin of more than two to one.

A separate survey of Tory supporters by the Conservative Home website found that two-thirds wanted Mrs May to announce her resignation immediately.

Few Tory MPs believe that Mrs May will still be in No 10 by the end of the summer after losing 13 Tory seats – squandering the party’s previous working majority of 12.

Mrs May’s joint chiefs of staff, Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, stepped down yesterday amid growing criticism of the power which they wielded in Downing Street. MPs had pointed the finger at Mr Timothy for including the so-called ‘dementia tax’ in the Tory manifesto, which was linked to a dramatic drop in the party’s support.

The aides have also been blamed by MPs and aides for creating a ‘toxic’ Downing Street in which officials and Ministers are subject to bullying.

It is understood that senior party figures had warned Mrs May that she could face an immediate leadership challenge if her aides stayed in their jobs.

The five front runners for the Conservative leadership are Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, Chancellor Philip Hammond, Brexit Secretary David Davis, Home Secretary Amber Rudd and Michael Gove

Yesterday, Mr Timothy said he took responsibility for the failure of the campaign, but denied that the ‘dementia tax’ had been his ‘personal pet policy’.

In a long parting statement he said: ‘The simple truth is that Britain is a divided country: many are tired of austerity, many remain frustrated or angry about Brexit, and many younger people feel they lack the opportunities enjoyed by their parents’ generation.’

The aides were replaced by a single chief of staff, former Housing Minister Gavin Barwell, who lost his Croydon Central seat in the General Election.

Mrs May is expected to face a grilling by the party’s powerful 1922 Committee of backbenchers this week, where she is likely to face hard questions about the Election result. Sources said there would have been a ‘bloodbath’ if Mr Timothy and Ms Hill were still in their jobs when the meeting started. The devastated Prime Minister cobbled together an agreement with the Democratic Unionist Party last night after sending her Chief Whip Gavin Williamson to Belfast.

MoS poll that was only one to predict Tory vote collapse When The Mail on Sunday published a final Election poll last weekend, showing Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn neck-and-neck, it was described by rival companies as an ‘outlier’ – polling jargon for ‘wrong’. One former Conservative candidate even wrote that the pollsters were ‘muppets’. In fact, it was the only pre-Election poll which proved to be accurate. Our poll from Survation gave the Tories 41 per cent, Labour 40 and the Lib Dems 8. The final results were 42, 40 and 7 per cent respectively. It followed a number of MoS polls correctly charting a collapse in Tory support. Survation boss Damian Lyons Lowe said: ‘We get it right by focusing on making our samples representative of the population.’ Advertisement

But Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson – whose success north of the border was crucial in preventing Labour from forming a Government – expressed public disquiet about the alliance with the anti-gay rights, anti-abortion party.

She said she had sought ‘clear assurances’ from Mrs May that any deal would not set back equality.

There were also public protests against the plan, which would be the only way Mrs May could ensure that her legislation got through the Commons. More than 500,000 people signed a petition against the Tories doing a deal.

The turmoil forced Mrs May to delay a planned reshuffle of her middle-ranking Ministers until today. She is being urged to appoint a formal Deputy Prime Minister to shore up her position, with Brexit Secretary David Davis the favourite for the job.

It would put Mr Davis in a difficult position, as he is widely believed to be considering a run at the leadership if there is a contest. Other possible candidates include Chancellor Philip Hammond and Home Secretary Amber Rudd.

Possible candidates include Chancellor Philip Hammond (left) and Brexit Secretary David Davis (right). Mrs May is expected to face a grilling by the party’s powerful 1922 Committee of backbenchers this week, where she is likely to face hard questions about the Election result

The Mail on Sunday poll by Survation – the only company to accurately predict the result of the General Election – makes grim reading for Mrs May.

A total of 41 per cent of voters think that if she does resign, she should do so immediately.

If she does quit, Mr Johnson is the clear favourite to succeed her. He is backed by 26 per cent of voters, with Mr Hammond the next favourite with 10 per cent.

Mr Davis is on nine per cent, Ms Rudd on eight per cent and Mr Gove on four per cent.

Last night Mr Johnson strenuously denied he was planning a leadership bid, saying: ‘I am backing Theresa May. Let’s get on with the job.’

He was stung before but waspish Boris still craves the top job, says Johnson's biographer ANDREW GIMSON Boris Johnson once said: ‘All politicians are like crazed wasps in a jam jar, each individually convinced that they’re going to make it.’ And no one has been more convinced he is going to make it all the way to No 10 than Johnson himself. He has long considered himself a Prime-Minister-in-waiting, but has been obliged to wait far longer than he hoped. For 11 years, he watched as the Tory Party was led by David Cameron, whom at Eton and Oxford Boris had viewed as an obscure and junior figure. He has now had to wait another year while the party was led by Theresa May, who humiliated him during the race for the Conservative leadership by ridiculing his abilities as a negotiator: ‘The last time he did a deal with the Germans he came back with three nearly new water cannon.’ Boris Johnson once said: ‘All politicians are like crazed wasps in a jam jar, each individually convinced that they’re going to make it' Well, the waiting may finally be over. At last the longed-for role of leader lies within his grasp. May is fatally wounded. After her wooden performance throughout the Election campaign, the Tories will never again consent to fight an election under her leadership. And the parliamentary arithmetic now makes a return to the polls within the next year more or less certain. As today’s poll for this paper shows, a majority of the public want May to go now, and Johnson is their preferred choice to succeed her. This, then, should be Johnson’s moment. But, as he well knows, the assassin in these cases seldom goes on to wear the crown. Michael Heseltine brought down Margaret Thatcher, but in the subsequent leadership contest was trounced by the less glamorous John Major. For all his undoubted charisma and popularity, there is a danger Johnson could be thwarted once again, just as he was in the race to succeed Cameron. And no one has been more convinced he is going to make it all the way to No 10 than Johnson himself Johnson’s worst weakness is that many Tory MPs do not trust him. The shambles of his last leadership campaign, when he was knifed by Michael Gove, did not inspire confidence. On that occasion, he was quick-witted enough to throw in the towel rather than fight on to inevitable defeat. May duly rewarded him for his surrender by putting him in the Foreign Office. Here he has had mixed success – on the one hand taking a strong moral stance over Syrian leader Bashar Assad’s gassing of his people, on the other being humiliated when he was prevented from travelling to meet G7 leaders with a plan to impose greater sanctions on Assad’s Russian ally. Johnson was reportedly so fearful of being ‘toast’ that he went to No 10 to beg for his job. The Election campaign brought him little succour. It contained no role for Johnson. It was all about Theresa May’s ‘strong and stable leadership’, a concept he will have regarded with inward derision, and which many voters found unconvincing and dreary. Meanwhile Jeremy Corbyn had a good campaign, and gained 32 seats by appearing relatively relaxed, humane and genuine. How Johnson will have longed to take on the man he branded a ‘mutton-headed old mugwump’. Thursday’s result has now opened up that opportunity. Could Johnson be the man to save the Tories in their hour of desperation? Certainly, he remains one of the few front-rank politicians who can change the atmosphere just by turning up to the local shopping centre. Corbyn, we must concede, appears to be another. But, his critics point out, there is far more to being leader than electioneering. There is Europe, the issue on which so many Tory leaders have impaled themselves. May made it her practice to decide her policy on everything, including Europe, with a tiny group of trusted advisers. For 11 years, he watched as the Tory Party was led by David Cameron, whom at Eton and Oxford Boris had viewed as an obscure and junior figure The next Tory leader, whoever he or she may be, will have to do things differently. On Brexit, there will have to be both consultation and listening, as well as, ultimately, leadership. There would be a kind of poetic justice in putting this most difficult of tasks in the hands of Boris, the man who did more than anyone else to swing the Leave vote. It would be more poetic still if, for this momentous task, he was able to secure the assistance of Michael Gove, whose appearances on the airwaves throughout the election reminded people just how brilliantly he can make the Tory case. Such a pact would be an astonshing act of forgiveness after Gove’s betrayal last year. Not the least of Johnson’s qualifications is his proven ability to take wider views about Brexit, rather than get imprisoned in some self-inflicted orthodoxy. Can he pull it off? The days ahead will prove whether his wait is finally at an end. Advertisement

His spokesman added: ‘He is completely supporting the PM and working closely with her to get the best deal in our Brexit negotiations.’

Respondents in our poll were scathing about Mrs May’s performance in the campaign, with only 16 per cent thinking she had put in the best performance, compared to 67 per cent arguing for Mr Corbyn. When asked why Mrs May failed, the most common answer, 27 per cent, was the dementia tax.

The political paralysis caused by the Election is widely believed to have strengthened the hand of pro-EU MPs who support a ‘soft’ Brexit, in which the UK retains access to the tariff-free single market and customs union. This approach is backed by 47 per cent of voters, compared with 36 per cent who want a ‘hard’ Brexit.

Amber Rudd and Michael Gove are also possible replacements for the Prime Minister. A spokesman for Mr Johnson last night insisted he was fully behind Mrs May

The resignations of her closest aides leaves Mrs May an even more isolated figure. The ‘cabal’ which took most decisions consisted of her, her husband Philip, Mr Timothy and Ms Hill – with her Cabinet left out in the cold.

Craig Oliver, who was David Cameron’s director of communications, welcomed the departure of the aides. In an article for today’s Mail on Sunday, he demands to know how ‘the Conservative party allowed these two people with such questionable judgment to influence so much and get it so wrong?’

And Katie Perrior, who worked with Mr Timothy and Ms Hill as Theresa May’s director of communications until the Election, said the two aides were the reason that No 10 ‘bloody well stank’ of ‘arrogance’.

Tory peer Lord Heseltine added to the chorus of criticism, using an article in The Mail on Sunday to describe the Election as ‘an unusually poor campaign, crippled by the reverse over what has been branded the “dementia tax” and some unwise sloganeering.’

Mrs May’s joint chiefs of staff, Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, stepped down yesterday amid growing criticism of the power which they wielded in Downing Street

Tory MP Nigel Evans was even more scathing, describing the Conservative manifesto as ‘full of poison from beginning to end’. He said: ‘It was mean-spirited in trying to take school lunches off youngsters, it was irrelevant in trying to bring back fox-hunting and it was a full-frontal assault on our core support which was the elderly. The only thing that was missing from the manifesto was compulsory euthanasia for the over-70s.’

Tory grandee Lord Tebbit was withering too, saying: ‘The idea of this Election had been conceived by Mr and Mrs May and two or three close advisers who know very little. They then elected to have a campaign of well over seven weeks. Madness. Because if you are ahead at the beginning, as all the polls indicated, the only thing that can happen during those seven weeks is that things get worse.’

Lord Mandelson also enters the debate today by calling for MPs who backed staying in the EU to use Mrs May’s political weakness as an opportunity to put pressure on her to keep the UK in the single market and customs union.

The former Labour Minister uses an article in this newspaper to hint at an alliance between moderates, saying that ‘new parliamentary arithmetic’ should be used to out-manoeuvre the ‘headbangers’ who want to cut most ties with Brussels.

He says: ‘I believe if [Mrs May] shows flexibility, most of the country will back her. It would be churlish for people like me and other Remainers not to give her political backing. There are Labour MPs who want to work in the national interest and will support her if she does the right thing.’

Last night, Mrs May praised new chief of staff Gavin Barwell as ‘first-class’ and ‘widely respected’, adding: ‘I want to reflect on the Election and why it did not deliver the result I hoped for.’