RULE OF THE MOB

Tories accused of blackmailing MPs to support under-fire PM & Rebel: Cash for poor town to be blocked over free school meal vote

- BEN GLAZE

Deputy Political Editor BORIS Johnson was last night accused of acting like a mafia don amid claims Tory MPs plotting to oust him over Partygate have been blackmailed and bullied.

Rebels were allegedly warned they would have constituency funds for vital services blocked or damaging stories about them planted in the press unless they supported the PM as he tries to save his own skin.

A senior Tory has urged MPs to report any such claims to police.

And Christian Wakeford, the Red Wall Tory who defected to Labour this week, claimed party chiefs used the same outrageous tactics in a bid to get him to vote against free school meals for poor kids in the holidays.

The Bury South MP accused whips of threatening to scap a new school in his Greater Manchester constituency if he sided with Labour in a bid to feed hungry kids, after a campaign by footballer Marcus Rashford.

It came as Mr Johnson was boasting about “levelling up" poorer areas.