David Cameron has been put on notice by his own MPs who have warned he is "finished" after the EU referendum - even if his side wins.
Tory backbencher Andrew Bridgen escalated hostilities in the party by saying a challenge to the Prime Minister’s leadership was “highly likely” after 23 June.
A vote of confidence in Mr Cameron’s leadership could be held if 50 MPs called for it, but half of the parliamentary party would need to vote to depose him as leader.
Mr Bridgen told Sky News: "I think there's at least 50 colleagues who are dissatisfied with the way that the Prime Minister has put himself front and centre of a fairly outrageous Remain campaign.
"I think that's probably highly likely ... Unless he changes the tone of this referendum debate there’s no way he will be able to unite the Conservative Party when this is all over."
He added that this would be the case even if there was a narrow win for the Remain camp.
The MP - who is a long-term critic of Mr Cameron - also made a clear threat that if the Prime Minister were to stay on, angry Brexit-leaning MPs would block his legislation in Parliament.
This would effectively paralyse the Government and force a General Election.
Mr Bridgen said: "We have a very small majority on paper … We could end up in a situation where we have a four-year zombie parliament. I honestly think we probably need to go for a general election before Christmas and get a new mandate from the people."
Fellow Tory MP Nadine Dorries backed his call, revealing she had already written her letter calling for a challenge because Mr Cameron had told "outright lies".
She told ITV's Peston on Sunday: "If the Remain campaign wins by a large majority, I'd say it would have to be 60-40, then David Cameron might just survive, but if Remain win by a narrow majority, or if Leave, as I certainly hope, will win, he's toast within days.
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