Tories search to tighten guidelines for ousting their subsequent chief over fears voters are sick of fixed ‘regicide’

Tory MPs want to tighten the rules to make it much harder to oust their next leader as they say voters are sick of their ‘regicide’.

It comes amid concerns that whoever loses the current race between Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick will be seen by MPs as a ‘leader in waiting’. 

MPs are privately lobbying to change the rules to require half the Parliamentary party to submit letters of no confidence in the leader to trigger a challenge. 

The threshold stands at 15 per cent of Tory MPs – meaning 18 can trigger a coup.

Bob Blackman, who chairs the party’s 1922 Committee of backbench MPs, has already said the threshold should be ‘at least’ doubled to 30 per cent under an upcoming review of the rules.

Tory MPs want to tighten the rules to make it much harder to oust their next leader as they say voters are sick of their ‘regicide’. Pictured: Leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch 

Conservative Party leadership candidate Robert Jenrick delivers a speech on October 25 

But some MPs are so nervous about further ‘regicide’ they want the bar to be set at 50 per cent.

Former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith backed the idea.

He said: ‘We cannot afford to have an endless stream of leadership contests. Our members were sick and tired of the infighting in the Tory party.’ 

After centrist James Cleverly was eliminated from the contest by MPs, Tory moderates have privately said they will challenge the next party leader if they take the Party too far to the Right.

Others say allies of the runner-up will cause trouble after the winner is announced on Saturday.