City leaders unite in calls for Boris Johnson to quit as the tide of ministerial resignations continues to rise

His handling of allegations of “inappropriate” conduct against the Conservative deputy chief whip saw Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid, two of the most senior members of the cabinet, leave their posts.

Their departures started a domino effect, which in less than 24 hours saw the number of vacancies in key government positions reach double figures.

And now even Tory leaders on Wearside are demanding Mr Johnson cave to demands for him to go.

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“Boris Johnson has, time and again, expected his MPs to humiliate themselves on public to cover up his own failures,” said Antony Mullen, leader of the main opposition Conservative group on Sunderland City Council.

“For reasons unknown to me, they have obliged.

“Now we are seeing people but their dignity first and are resigning to bring about the end of his premiership – I hope that they will succeed.”

Cllr Mullen previously predicted Mr Johnson’s days were numbered after he scrapped through a vote of no-confidence orchestrated by members of his own political party.

While the Prime Minister survived that attempted to oust him, in theory protecting him for 12 months under Conservative Party regulations, this could be undone if Tory MPs simply vote to change their own rulebook.

Cllr Mullen’s city council colleague, Graeme Miller, the Labour leader of the local authority, branded Johnson “morally bankrupt” following a succession of scandals.

He said: “In the midst of a cost of living crisis which has hit Sunderland harder than almost anywhere in the country, we have a Government more focused on fighting among themselves than fighting for the people they represent.

“The contempt that he and those continuing to represent his party hold for the people of the UK is appalling and the people of Sunderland deserve far better than what they are being served up by this pitiful excuse of a conservative Government.”

Liberal Democrat leader Niall Hodson added the final piece of cross-party calls in the city for the Prime Minister to quit, claiming the Conservative Party was “finally coming to the realisation the rest of the country has known for days.

He added: “Boris Johnson’s position has become untenable and is becoming a distraction to the major issues facing the country.”

This sentiment has been echoed by Wearside’s Labour MPs.

Bridget Phillipson, Houghton and Sunderland South MP and shadow eductaion secretary, said: “After all the sleaze, the scandals and the failure, it’s clear that this Government is now collapsing.

“The Prime Minister is up to his neck in sleaze and scandal. Enough is enough and it is time for him to go.

“It’s no longer about just swapping the man at the top. It’s clear: the only way the country can get the fresh start it deserves is by getting rid of this Tory government.”

Washington and Sunderland West MP Sharon Hodgson said: "These resignations come as no surprise with the rats finally leaving the sinking ship.

"If they had a shred of integrity they would have gone months ago.

"The brutal truth is that this Tory party is corrupted from top to bottom - changing one man won't fix that. Only a real change of government can give Britain the fresh start it needs."

Sunderland Central MP Julie Elliott branded the row a “sorry saga of scandal, sleaze and failure”.