The Conservative party risks losing voters if it continues its "vendetta" against the BBC, senior Tories have warned amid a mounting backlash. Last night backbench MPs threatened to oppose reported plans by the government to scrap the licence fee and replace it with a subscription model. Huw Merriman, chair of a Parliamentary group on the BBC, warns that “picking such a potentially unpopular fight” is “unlikely to end well”. Writing in the Telegraph, Mr Merriman says it is “worrying” that senior Government aides appear to be “ramping up an unedifying vendetta” against the broadcaster.