Downing Street is threatening rebel Conservative MPs with deselection if they move to change the rules so that another vote of no confidence in Boris Johnson can happen, The Daily Mail reported.
One No 10 source told the outlet that in such a scenario MPs face a risk that the rules for their own positions will be "changing on them every five minutes".
Some of the rebel Tories claimed that the "threat of deselection" is being "put around – both directly to some MPs and as rumours to others".
"No 10 is in such a mess, they are desperate," another rebel Tory source told The Mail.
The report comes in the wake of a plan forged by rebel Tories to get elected to the 1922 Committee - a backbench body that has the decision-making power regarding the Conservative Party's leadership - and change the rules so that they would allow another vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
With the embattled PM surviving the previous one in June with a narrow margin of 211 to 148, the current rules prevent another no-confidence vote from taking place for a year. But the 1922 Committee has the power to change these rules.
A date for the committee election is due to be set up this Wednesday. Downing Street has already warned that the upcoming election is going to be a scene of a "proxy war" between Johnson's critics and supporters.
Rebel Tories hope to grab all 18 positions in the committee, with Steve Baker, Andrew Bridgen, and Aaron Bell considering a run. According to The Mail, Sir Charles Walker, the veteran Conservative MP who is against changing the no-confidence vote rules, is also mulling his own bid. Earlier reports also indicated that some of the rebels are against "changing the rules in the middle of the game" and are calling for other mechanisms instead.
Among the concerns that emerged within the rebels is that their side might end up having "too many anti-Boris candidates" - something that could potentially lead to splitting the vote.
Embattled Boris Johnson is facing calls to resign over his role in the "partygate" scandal and accusations of misleading the Parliament about it. The prime minister has denied wrongdoing. He is currently facing a parliamentary investigation into whether he lied to MPs, with Downing Street fearing that it could turn into a "kangaroo court" because of the Commons privileges committee's decision to accept testimony from anonymous witnesses.