Boris Johnson has insisted he will not change his approach to being prime minister despite Tory MPs mounting a fresh bid to boot him out of Downing Street.
He said he will not “undergo some sort of psychological transformation” and will instead “focus on what is right for the country”.
The PM also brushed off the fact that 148 of his own MPs - 41 per cent of the total - had recently voted against a motion of confidence in his leadership.
He told Radio Four’s Today programme: “What’s happened is I’ve got a renewed mandate from my colleagues and I’m going to continue to deliver.”
Nevertheless, prominent Tory rebels are plotting to change the party’s rules so they can hold a second confidence vote within weeks.
They plan to win a majority on the 1922 committee of backbench Conservative MPs in order to push the reforms through.
One of them, Andrew Bridgen, told GB News: “I’m going to put my hat in the ring on a manifesto of rule change and clearly if a majority of the Committee are elected on that mindset then the rules can be changed.”
The move comes after the Tories lost the Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton by-elections to Labour and the Lib Dems respectively.
That led to the resignation of Conservative chairman Oliver Dowden, who said “we cannot carry on with business as usual”.
There were also fresh calls from former party leaders William Hague and Michael Howard for the prime minister to stand down.
But asked by Today presenter Mishal Husein is he would change his leadership style, Johnson said: “If you’re saying you want me to undergo some sort of psychological transformation, I think that our listeners would know that is not going to happen.”
He added: “I think the most important thing for somebody in my position, when you’re doing my job, you have to focus on what is right for the country - that is what concerns me.”
The PM also insisted that voters were “heartily sick and tired” of listening to debates about the controversies surrounding his leadership.
He said: “What they want to hear is what we’re doing for them.
“What I’m trying to set out is the ambition we have for the country, the plans we have to tackle the cost of living and the plans we have for a stronger economy.”