Opponents of Boris Johnson say he has ‘high negatives’ in recent public polling

Senior Tories have launched a “stop Boris” campaign, warning that handing the keys to No 10 to a hard Brexiteer such as Boris Johnson or Dominic Raab would be electoral “suicide”.

Sir Patrick McLoughlin, the former party chairman who is backing Jeremy Hunt to succeed Theresa May, today launches a broadside at Brexiteer candidates, warning that their “ideological” attachment to a no-deal Brexit is “reckless”.

Writing in The Sunday Times, he says: “Defining ourselves as the Brexit party, pursuing the hardest form of Brexit with a parliament that will not deliver it, is a recipe for paralysis in government and suicide with the electorate. We are and must remain the Conservative Party, not the Vote Leave party.”

His remarks can also be interpreted as