The flow of Conservative party MPs publicly calling for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to resign is gathering pace.

The fresh rebellion in the aftermath of the Sue Gray report and shocking defeats in the local elections has made conservatives feeling unease toward their leader’s heading into the General election.

Reports vary on the number of MPs questioning Johnson’s leadership with some indicating at least 40 have publicly expressed opposition while at least 28 Tory MPs have publicly stated they have written a letter of no confidence. 

Senior Conservatives are said to bracing for the possibility of a vote of confidence as soon as next week.

At least 15-percent of Tory Party MPs must write a no-confidence letter to make a leadership challenge possible.

Currently, that means 54 MPs must submit a letter of no confidence to pass the threshold that automatically triggers a new leadership race. 

Former Prime Minister, Theresa May faced a no-confidence vote after only 24 Tory MPs publicly stated they had written letters of no confidence. However, 48 MPs was the 15 percent threshold at the time, which meant only half of the lawmakers had revealed their intentions in public.

Adding to Johnson’s headaches, his own ethics advisor has piled more pressure by suggesting the PM may have broken the ministerial code when he was fined by police for breaking coronavirus rules.

Christopher Geidt has demanded Johnson provide a public explanation as to why he believes the code was not breached.

He appears to have threatened his resignation as an independent adviser if the PM does not explain why being issued a fixed penalty notice did not constitute a breach of the code saying  “a legitimate question has arisen as to whether those facts alone might have constituted a breach of the overarching duty within the Ministerial Code of complying with the law.”

“It may be that the prime minister considers that no such breach of his Ministerial Code has occurred. In that case, I believe a prime minister should respond accordingly, setting out his case in public." Geidt added.

Johnson became the first serving UK Prime Minister to have broken the law while in office and was fined for attending a party in 2020 during a nationwide Coronavirus lockdown when gatherings were banned under rules imposed by the government of Johnson itself. 

A new poll shows the main opposition Labour Party has taken an eleven-point lead over the Conservatives according to the latest Savanta ComRes survey. 

Former Conservative Party leader, William Hague, has said “I think Boris Johnson is in real trouble here… a lot of people misread the events of last week as meaning the trouble is over, [that] Boris is [now] free.”