BLACKMAIL & INTIMIDATION

>> PM accused of being like Mafia boss' using parly whips to withhold funding from rebel MPS >> Sturgeon calls for inquiry into misuse of public funds and potential corruption

- TORCUIL CRICHTON

BORIS Johnson has been accused of behaving like a Mafia boss over claims Tory rebels have been blackmailed.

Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael compared the PM to an organised crime kingpin when senior Conservative William Wragg accused No10 advisers and whips of threatening colleagues who have called on their leader to quit.

Defector Christian Wakeford yesterday backed up Wragg's explosive claims that Johnson's critics have been warned they will lose constituency funding unless they back down.

It led to Orkney and Shetland MP Carmichael saying Johnson's conduct was similar to a Mafia don.

He said: “This is a behaviour of the sort I have never heard.

We all understand the need for whips to maintain discipline but this owes more to the tactics of the Mafia than Erskine May.

Erskine May is the House of Commons rule book often described as The Bible of Parliamentary procedure”.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said an independent inquiry should be launched into the claims.

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said he was disappointed by the claims but said he hadn't been approached.