Supporters of Boris Johnson are plotting to install him as Tory leader by mounting a Commons ambush after next year’s General Election, The Mail on Sunday has learned.

A hard core of pro-Boris Tory MPs are privately vowing to force the Prime Minister to quit if he tries to form a second Coalition with the Lib Dems.

The Friends Of Boris (FOBs) then expect their man to sweep to victory in a party leadership contest before calling a second Election during the honeymoon period to capitalise on his popularity.

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Supporters of Boris Johnson (left) are said to be privately vowing to force Prime Minister David Cameron (right) to quit if he tries to form a second Coalition with the Lib Dems

The London Mayor’s announcement last week that he intends to fight a seat galvanised Westminster during the normally quiet summer political season and sparked renewed debate on Mr Johnson’s ambitions.

With every major opinion pollster predicting the Conservatives will fall short of a majority at the Election, the pro-Johnson MPs are already ‘war-gaming’ their strategy after the May 7 vote next year.

The FOBs believe that up to 100 Tory MPs would vote with Labour against the Queen’s Speech of a second Coalition – enough in a hung Parliament to kill the agreement at birth and force Mr Cameron to resign, they say.

One leading pro-Boris Tory MP told this newspaper last night how he and his colleagues would combine with Labour to vote down any Tory-Lib Dem legislative programme in the Commons.

He said: ‘The best party strategists can hope for is a repeat of the 2010 result when we were the largest party but with no overall majority. But we won’t tolerate a second deal with the Lib Dems. So I, and many colleagues, would vote down a Coalition Queen’s Speech.

‘With Boris’s backing, as many as 100 of my colleagues would do so. That would be more than enough to defeat it and Cameron.’

The MP said that Mr Johnson would then be the unstoppable candidate in the resulting Tory leadership contest, saying: ‘Boris is unassailable – he would storm through the leadership race.’

Mr Johnson, hoping to be selected as the candidate for the safe Tory seat of Uxbridge, West London, is understood to be supported by dozens of Conservative MPs, including Jesse Norman (left) and Zac Goldsmith

Mr Johnson would be expected to lead the Tories into a second General Election in a bid to achieve a working majority, the MP said.

Another FOB on the Tory backbenches claimed that last month’s reshuffle, which included the sacking of Right-wing Environment Secretary Owen Paterson and the demotion of Michael Gove from the Education Department, had ‘hugely damaged’ the Prime Minister’s standing among Tory MPs and sent them into the arms of Mr Johnson. The MP said: ‘The reshuffle amounted to a surgical removal of Cameron’s backbone. People are very unhappy about it.’

Mr Johnson, hoping to be selected as the candidate for the safe Tory seat of Uxbridge, West London, is understood to be supported by dozens of Conservative MPs, including Zac Goldsmith, Jesse Norman and Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Somerset MP Mr Rees-Mogg yesterday hailed the London Mayor as a ‘charismatic’ phenomenon whose appeal reached ‘well beyond the Tory fold’ and who would be ‘an asset’ in government.

Mr Rees-Mogg said: ‘He projects a warmth of personality that endears him to people well beyond the Tory fold. Yet there is steel behind this amiability.

THE QUEEN'S SPEECH PLOT: HOW IT WOULD WORK

Royal role: But Boris’s cohorts plan to vote down the Queen’s Speech The ‘BoJo’ power plot is based on Tory private predictions that David Cameron will struggle to win a clear Commons’ majority at the May 7 General Election but that he will lead the largest single party. That leaves Mr Cameron with two options: try to govern as a minority administration or – as the Johnson camp expects – attempt to form a second coalition with Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats. This is when Boris’s supporters will swing into action, by combining with Labour MPs to vote down the Coalition’s first Queen’s Speech setting out its legislative programme. The defeat would amount to a no-confidence vote in Mr Cameron’s leadership and spark a Tory leadership contest. Humiliatingly for Mr Cameron, he would then have to act as an interim Prime Minister while his would-be replacements battled it out in a leadership contest. That would stretch well into summer but with the Johnson camp confident of ultimate victory. Once installed in No 10, Prime Minister Boris would himself have two options: try to run a minority Tory government or aim to win an outright Commons majority in a second Election later in the autumn – the first time since 1974 that there have been two elections in one year. Advertisement

‘The announcement of Boris’s intention to stand is the beginning of a process – in a General Election and in government he will be an asset.’

However, there were also signs last night of a growing ‘Boris backlash’ in sections of the party, with former Defence Secretary Liam Fox accusing the media of over-stating his chances.

Dr Fox insisted that Mr Johnson was not guaranteed to clear the first hurdle in a Conservative leadership contest whereby MPs choose a shortlist of two candidates to go before a vote of all party members.

He said: ‘The media seem to think they decide who will be the next leader of the Tory Party. They have forgotten there’s the little matter of over 300 Tory MPs who have their say.’

And another MP insisted that potential rival leadership contenders like Chancellor George Osborne, Home Secretary Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond were far more substantial figures.

One FOG – Friend Of George – said: ‘Johnson signally failed to build alliances when he was an MP the first time, so why should he assume that he can do so this time?’

Allies of the Chancellor are not convinced that he would run against Boris in a contest. One said: ‘If we haven’t won a majority, George will be tainted by that failure.

'His economic policies were meant to win it for us. He wouldn’t want to serve under Boris, and he couldn’t bear to lose to him. It is more likely he will throw his might behind someone else in his camp, such as [Culture Secretary] Sajid Javid.’

However, there are also signs of a growing ‘Boris backlash’ in sections of the party with one MP insisting that potential rival leadership contenders like Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond would be more substantial figures

One MP insisted that Home Secretary Theresa May was a far more substantial figures to rival for the position

FORGET THE LEADERSHIP, GEORGE. YOU'RE YESTERDAY'S MAN... By Nadine Dorries I wrote in this newspaper back in February that David Cameron should deploy the Tory Party secret weapon and invite Boris back into the Westminster fold. Now that has happened. With Boris batting for the team, we have a much stronger chance of winning the next General Election. Boris is our perfect anti-Nigel Farage weapon. Following his strongly Eurosceptic speech last week, Boris will undoubtedly coax back the voters who have temporarily left the Conservatives and dallied with Ukip. If anyone could be the silver bullet needed to take us clear across the majority line, the Mayor of London is it. A victory for Cameron and George Osborne removes any leadership vacancy. However, Boris may have a further opportunity. In 2017, Cameron has pledged a referendum on Europe following renegotiation talks. It is well known that he will campaign for a Yes vote to stay in. Following his speech last week, it is very possible Boris will campaign for a No vote. Dorries: 'Boris is the silver bullet who will give the Tories a majority' If he does and the No vote wins, the pressure will be on Cameron to resign. The question then will be which candidates MPs put forward to the party membership to elect as leader. For the past 20 years, Osborne has carefully plotted his rise through the ranks. During reshuffles, he placed his acolytes in key positions. He has located his unofficial cheerleader for his campaign as future leader, Michael Gove, in the seat of Chief Whip. This means he has the controller of backbench opinion in his pocket. Six months ago, Gove attended a private dinner with Rupert Murdoch. During the evening, he verbally disparaged both Boris and Theresa May and condemned them both as potential leaders. Osborne is anxious that none of Murdoch’s newspaper titles support Boris. Gove is nothing if not a loyal servant to the present leadership, therefore it can only be assumed the comments were made not only with prior approval, but were planned. But it is inconceivable that Boris would not be one of the final two choices for next leader. However, he has a great deal of work to do first. Whereas Boris may have deployed a light touch on immigration as London Mayor, his message will need to alter dramatically to convince MPs. They will want to hear him say a Thatcherite ‘No, No, No,’ to open borders. Boris needs to remind those MPs of his track record of success. He took an ailing London and has transformed it into a leading metropolis on the global stage. If he can climb that mountain and reassure all MPs, Boris is indeed on course to be our next leader. But what of Osborne? He will already be aware that a continuity candidate, in the form of himself or May, will not be acceptable to MPs or the party membership. The choice will be between Boris and a member of the 2010 intake. My guess is that Osborne will already be negotiating with such an MP and helping to position them as a potential leadership candidate. The deal being that Osborne will persuade his people, the MPs he has rewarded and groomed over years, to support that candidate. It won’t work. There is no MP in any party with the combination of talent and achievement that can rival the Boris stardust. Unfortunately for Osborne, he is already yesterday’s man. Advertisement

In Boris Johnson, the Tory mutiny has found its own Fletcher Christian, writes Andrew Gimson

Boris Johnson does not want to be Wayne Rooney, a star player who carries out someone else’s plan. He intends to be Louis van Gaal, the star manager who arrives on a mission to take the team back to the top of the league.

But the Conservatives already have a manager. He is called David Cameron, and he has been running the side since 2005. Last week he sent a tweet from his holiday deckchair: ‘Great news that Boris plans to stand at next year’s General Election – I’ve always said I want my star players on the pitch.’

Cameron is making the best of what both for him and his party is an extremely dangerous situation. The Conservatives are in a concealed state of mutiny. Many backbenchers think Cameron is a hopeless leader, and would like nothing better than to get rid of him and his henchman, George Osborne.

A spontaneous uprising would be unlikely to succeed. The mutiny requires a leader. This is the significance of the return of Boris: he is coming aboard as the man with the dash, the subversiveness and the acute sense of timing needed to overthrow Cameron.

Boris also has a growing band of sympathisers who could coalesce into something really formidable. The reshuffle confirmed to a large number of Tory MPs that they have nothing to hope for from the present leadership.

London mayor Boris Johnson pictured delivering a speech on Europe at Bloomberg HQ in London this week

I cannot break confidences. So let me just say how moving I found it, a day or two before the reshuffle took place, to be told by a Tory MP of his outstanding suitability for the post of Minister of State for Paperclips. Alas, the paperclips job went to a woman who always does what Osborne tells her. Paperclip (as I have decided to call the MP in order to preserve his anonymity) got on the blower to Boris.

And what a sympathetic hearing he received from the Mayor of London.

I am happy to report that Paperclip has gone off on holiday with a spring in his step. For he is under the impression that Boris has every intention of offering him a job commensurate with his talents, as soon as the present ministerial team can be got rid of.

Boris’s enemies go around asking whether he can be trusted. It is a good question, but it also betrays a failure to understand what is going on. For in order to lead a successful uprising, you need in some respects to be untrustworthy.

Boris by temperament is an outsider, a maverick. He cannot see a red button marked ‘Danger – Do Not Press’ without wanting to press it. Cameron would rather see politics as a game of football in which everyone is obliged to obey the rules. But Tory politics over the next year or two may turn out to be more like Mutiny On The Bounty, with Cameron as Captain Bligh and Boris as Fletcher Christian, the leader of the mutineers.

The time may not be far off when Cameron, Osborne and their followers are lowered over the side into an open boat, while Boris takes command of the ship.

But the time for this parting of the ways has not yet come. Cameron and Osborne have the chance to achieve in 2015 the victory which eluded them in 2010. Any Conservative who disrupts the General Election campaign will not be forgiven.

Boris has accepted the logic of this. He is going to be the most loyal member of the Conservative campaign one could hope to find.

But his loyalty will often be so exaggerated as to amount to a form of subversion.

Boris Johnson does not want to be Wayne Rooney (pictured) - a star player who carries out someone else’s plan. He intends to be Louis van Gaal - the star manager, says Andrew Gimson

As he said when asked about the General Election in his first newspaper interview after announcing his intention to stand: ‘The big story is going to be Dave.’ Which other leading Conservative dares call the Prime Minister ‘Dave’?

And how big a story will Dave be when he tells us for the umpteenth time about the wonders of ‘Our Long-Term Economic Plan?’ Journalists condemned to cover this stuff will instead flock to see Boris, in the hope that he will say something more amusing.

The critics will try to suggest that because Boris does not have an ideology, he is somehow unworthy to engage in politics. But ideology can lead to appalling blunders.

What Boris has is a set of powerfully conservative instincts, which he applies in the light of circumstances.

I nevertheless believe he is a bit hurt by the claim that he has nothing much to say about policy. Hence his assembly at City Hall of a team who can feed him the ammunition he needs for his leadership bid.

People such as Gerard Lyons, who became the Mayor’s chief economic adviser. Lyons supplied the research Boris last week used to place pressure on Cameron to adopt a tougher negotiating position in Europe.

But Boris did not himself get bogged down in technicalities. He instead said of this new strategy: ‘If you don’t go in hard to the tackle you are never going to come out well. You’ve got to go in hard and low.’

It is an analogy drawn from rugby, a game which Boris played with enthusiasm at school and university.

When the time comes to ‘go in hard and low’ against Cameron, Boris will undoubtedly do so.