Theresa May’s declaration that she would fight the next election as Tory leader last week has increased the number of MPs who want to oust her before then, according to rebel commanders keeping a tally of discontented backbenchers.

Senior backbenchers accused the prime minister of overconfidence and warned that if she has abandoned her pledge to MPs — after her disastrous election campaign — to serve only as long as they wanted, she would be ousted.

“What it has done is give us another two or three names of people who are likely to support getting rid of her,” a former minister said. “She came to us and said, ‘It’s in your hands.’ Now she says it’s in her hands and ‘I can do what