NORTH Dorset Conservative MP Simon Hoare has declined to say if Prime Minister Boris Johnson has his support.

Asked that question on Sunday Politics on BBC Northern Ireland, Mr Hoare responded: “The Prime Minister is the leader of our party, he won a very commanding mandate amongst the Conservative Party electorate and then amongst the electorate in the general election.

“I think now is not the time to be talking about changes in leadership or leadership challenges or letters to the chairman of the 22, but that comes with a health warning, that Number 10 as an operation needs to pull its socks up, get its act together, start talking to the parliamentary party far more than it has been doing up until now.

“That’s, of course, been difficult because of Covid and the restrictions being there … I don’t think we’ve gone past the point of no return but the act needs to get better.”

Mr Hoare, who chairs the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee, voted against the Government on an amendment on the wider standards system which came after former MP Owen Paterson was suspended for breaching lobbying rules.

“I thought what the Government did and was trying to do was manifestly wrong,” he said.

“Clearly the operation of Number 10 needs to sharpen itself, the political antenna of Number 10 need to be far more acute.”

There have been reports the Tory whips believe a number of MPs have submitted letters of no confidence in Mr Johnson to Sir Graham Brady, who chairs the backbench 1922 Committee – although they remain far short of the 54 required under party rules to trigger a vote on his leadership.

Mr Johnson has had a difficult few weeks which began with his botched attempt to overhaul the Commons standards rules for MPs leading to renewed accusations of Tory “sleaze”.

That was followed by criticisms that long-awaited announcements on rail improvements for the North and Midlands and the funding of adult social care in England failed to match previous promises.

And a speech to the CBI in which Mr Johnson mislaid part of his text and talked about his visit to the Peppa Pig World theme park was widely criticised.