Rising star MP Johnny Mercer calls on Theresa May to move on for younger generation of Tories to lead party

A RISING star MP will call on Theresa May and her ageing Government to make way for a new generation of Tories to take over.

Outspoken Johnny Mercer will issue the direct challenge on the embattled PM by insisting ordinary Brits are “crying out” for fresh leadership to match the fast changing times.

Mapping out an ambitious and ever more impatient group of younger Conservatives’ thinking in a major speech, the Army officer-turned- MP will insist the Tory boss and her administration are failing today’s digital generation of impassioned voters.

And he will also risk igniting a new party row by mounting a withering attack on more senior Tory MPs for being “career politicians”.

Mr Mercer, 37, will say: “The sands are shifting under our feet. It’s like a runaway horse.

“Don’t watch it go, or let others be the ones to tame it.

“The current lot are still in the stable, events have overtaken them and they cannot catch that horse now.”

He will add: “We must tame it – our generation. It’s time for a new generation to take over and govern differently”.

We must be courageous enough to hold a mirror up to ourselves

Johnny Mercer, Tory MP

Blasting today’s political leaders as “a profession of insincerity”, Mr Mercer will also insist all MPs must be more honest and upfront with voters to win back their trust.

Turning on some older Tories, Mr Mercer - tipped as a future Tory leader – will go on: “I love many of my colleagues dearly, but we’ve selected too many of the wrong people over the last twenty years.

“We must be courageous enough to hold a mirror up to ourselves”.

Speaking at an event organised by the think tank Onward, Mr Mercer will also call for the Tories to return to a more compassionate brand of One Nation politics after two years of bitter feuding over Brexit.

Showing empathy is the key to reclaiming millions of centre ground voters who currently feel politically homeless, he will argue.

The Plymouth Moor View MP will insist Tory MPs must “walk in people’s shoes, govern with compassion as well as fiscal competence, look for common ground, reject the extremes, and ditch the spin”.

POLITICALLY HOMELESS GENERATION

He will added: “There is a country out there, full of hope, full of optimism, desperately looking for something to vote for.

“We are not a hard left country – people don’t want the socialism of Jeremy Corbyn. They want a modern, centre-right values led party.

“If we do that, we’ll reach out to plenty of people who feel politically homeless. We’ll connect. We’ll build a movement, not a party.”

Mr Mercer will also name-check a series of younger Tory MPs as the party’s future in his speech.

He will champion two campaigners for causes from more ordinary backgrounds, A&E nurse Maria Caulfield and former postman Scott Mann.

And he also heaps praise on Tracey Crouch, who resigned as Sports Minister to force through curbs on fixed odds betting terminals, as well as Cabinet Office minister and ex-No10 aide Oliver Dowden.

Mr Mercer’s broadside heaps yet more pressure on Mrs May to set her departure date for later this year once Brexit has taken place.

The PM was forced to promise she would stand down before the 2022 general election in December to fend off a bid by angry Brexiteer Tories to oust her.

But despite her own MPs' growing frustrations with her, Mrs May last week signalled she wants to stay on in No10 for some time yet to deliver on her domestic agenda.