A senior Tory MP has been rinsed on Twitter after claiming “the blob” had caused the downfall of Boris Johnson.
Jake Berry, who was briefly Conservative chairman under Liz Truss, also claimed that Brexit had been “blocked” by “the establishment”.
The close Johnson ally made the bizarre claims barely 24 hours after the former prime minister announced that he was standing down as an MP with immediate effect.
That came after he learned that the privileges committee had found him guilty of lying to parliament over partygate and were recommending a lengthy suspension from the Commons.
Johnson quit shortly after another of his supporters, Nadine Dorries, also resigned her seat after his attempt to give her a peerage was blocked.
In what appeared to be a co-ordinated attempt to de-stabilise Rishi Sunak, another Johnson backer, Nigel Adams, announced on Saturday that he was also quitting parliament.
Berry, the MP for Rossendale and Darwen, and another of Johnson’s closest allies, tweeted: “You voted for Brexit - the establishment blocked it. You voted for Boris Johnson - the establishment has forced him out.
“Who is in charge here ... The voters or the blob.”
But his claims of a high-level conspiracy to stop Brexit and end Johnson’s political career were roundly mocked by fellow Twitter users.
One replied: “I thought Boris for Brexit done? Try harder, Jake.”
Comedian Sue Perkins responded: “Stop. Lying.”
Former BBC journalist Gavin Esler said: “It is becoming difficult not to laugh at the juvenilia from some Conservative MPs. If the voters really are in charge as this one pretends, maybe we should have a general election.”
Others ridiculed Berry’s reference to ’the blob”, which has become a favourite term used by right-wingers to attack civil servants.
Another Twitter user compared Berry to the character in classic movie The Sixth Sense who could see dead people.