MP backs Boris Johnson saying he has 'enormous mandate' from constituents as he tries to cling to power

Ms Cates appeared on Politics Live this morning and defended the Prime Minister, as a dozen MPs resigned.

Speaking on the BBC Two programme, Ms Cates said: “He has an enormous mandate from the British public, from people in my constituency and from the 14 million people who voted for him.”

When asked by host, Jo Coburn, if she was still supporting the Prime Minister, Ms Cates simply replied: “Yes.”

Boris Johnson has faced numerous calls to resign over the last 24 hours a number of government ministers have resigned, including former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, and the Health Secretary, Sajid Javid.

Whilst Ms Cates did say she understood the situation “doesn’t look good”, she said people knew the kind of person Boris Johnson would be before he led the Conservatives to victory in the 2019 General Election.

She said: “No one can say that they weren’t aware of his character flaws or the kind of leader her would be. The British public were aware of who Boris Johnson was.

"Is he the perfect leader? No. Does he have character flaws? Yes. Are we surprised by them? No.”

Ms Cates was elected to represent Penistone and Stocksbridge in 2019 after the Conservatives won the constituency from the Liberal Democrats.

Whilst on the show, Ms Cates accused the media of trying to oust the Prime Minister and said the country should be asking ‘some deeper, bigger questions about democracy, about whether it’s right to get rid of somebody with such a strong mandate’.

She also said whilst she was sad to see Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid go, calling them “men of principle”, Boris Johnson had ‘filled those positions with equally credible minsters’.

The number of government ministers resigning from Boris Johnson’s government has continued to increase today as questions persist about the Prime Minister’s ability to continue in Number 10.

So far, no South Yorkshire Conservative MPs have publically criticised the Prime Minister, however, Ms Cates is currently the only one to publically support the PM in the last 24 hours.