Cameron in angry confrontation with leader of Tory revolt on Lords reform David Cameron on Tuesday night personally challenged the leader of the Tory rebels who launched a highly effective operation against House of Lords reform, involving unofficial whips, which produced the largest rebellion against the government of this parliament. Rebel sources said that an angry prime minister confronted Jesse Norman just outside the House of Commons division lobbies as it became clear that scores of Tory MPs would defy a three line whip. Cameron behaved in a "disgraceful way," marking the return of his "Flashman character," one leading rebel said after the prime minister rebuked Norman as 91 Tories rebelled against the Lords reform bill. One rebel source said of Cameron, who raised his voice in front of other Tories: "The behaviour of the prime minister was disgraceful. There were a number of colleagues around Jesse. The prime minister expressed his displeasure which really shocked colleagues. All Jesse has done is be a Conservative. Cameron's anger shows that Downing Street was shocked by the size of the rebellion, which was far larger than the 81 Tory MPs who defied the prime minister last October over an EU referendum. But No 10 was also concerned that normally loyal MPs, such as Norman and Nadhim Zahawi, had risked ministerial careers on an issue that is highly sensitive for the coalition. Minutes after the prime minister challenged Norman, the Tory whips sought out the rebel leader to suggest he should leave the parliamentary estate for the night. As he relaxed with fellow rebels in the Strangers' Bar shortly after the vote, four whips entered the bar to ask him for a private word. The whips - Stephen Crabb, Philip Dunne, Bill Wiggin and James Duddridge - were said to have confronted Norman in an even more aggressive manner than the prime minister. A rebel source said: "The whips went to find Jesse and basically told him to go. They basically said to him that he knew he had damaged the government and he should leave. Jesse is a good man and so he did leave. The action by Cameron and the whips, which came as one rebel ministerial aide resigned and another was sacked, showed that No 10 and the Tory whips were thrown off course by Norman's own whipping operation. No 10 had hoped to reduce the rebellion when the government announced the withdrawal of a "programme motion" earlier in the day when it became clear that Labour would join forces with the rebels to reject the measure. The rebellion by the 91 Tory MPs failed to block the second reading of the bill because Labour voted with the government on that. Norman, a former adviser to George Osborne and one of the party's main intellectuals, ran a classic whipping operation from his office in the Portcullis House wing of parliament where rebel leaders called themselves the "Sensibles." Norman, elected to parliament at the last election, who characterised himself as a "constitutional loyalist," was supported by longer serving MPs such as David Ruffley. One veteran Tory said: "It was a very impressive operation. Jesse ran it with great discipline. But they were brave because they were risking future ministerial careers. The rebels scoffed at suggestions by Downing Street that Cameron would use the pause in the bill to try to win round more Tory MPs before the government tries to revive the measure in the autumn. "What is David Cameron going to do?" one veteran asked. Is he going to spend the summer telephoning 100 Tory MPs to change their minds? David Davis, former shadow home secretary, told Channel 4 News: "I can't see why it should change. This story will be the same in September as it is now. When they bring a programme motion or a guillotine motion in September, if they do, it will get defeated again. So all they are really doing is prolonging the evil day. One loyal Tory MP said that the prime minister might succeed because the rebels object to the bill on different grounds. Some want to damage the Lib Dems, others are wary of the pace of reform while others simply object to the idea of a mainly elected second chamber. But the MP added: "This issue of course is visceral for many colleagues who will probably not budge." Downing Street was insisting that the prime minister, who persuaded Clegg to drop the programme motion to give him a chance to win over Tory colleagues, genuinely believes he can persuade some of the more moderate rebels. Well-placed Tory sources said that in the less pressurised atmosphere of the summer recess tempers may cool on all sides."There was some unhelpful and idiotic briefing from Nick Clegg's office over the weekend that raised the temperature," one Tory said. This was a reference to the interview by Richard Reeves, Clegg's former strategy director, who said that the Lib Dems would be prepared to withdraw their support for Cameron's plan to reduce the number of Commons seats if the prime minister failed to deliver his MPs. But rebels rejected any amendments to the bill which fell short of removing Clegg's plans to elect a proportion of members of the reformed second chamber. Some ministers said Downing Street should be nervous that so many Tory MPs from across the party were prepared to rebel. On the traditional wing there were the likes of Bernard Jenkin who has been a long term critic of the coalition. But the driving force behind the rebellion were members of the 2010 intake, who account for 49% of the parliamentary party, who are normally loyal to No 10 and who recently challenged the likes of Jenkin in elections to the 1922 committee. Paul Goodman, the former Tory frontbencher who is now editor of the ConservativeHome website, wrote of his surprise that new MPs, many of whom have been tipped for high ministerial office, were prepared to confront the prime minister on such a sensitive coalition issue so directly. He highlighted three MPs: Jesse Norman, Nadhim Zahawi and Penny Mordaunt. Goodman wrote: "Older MPs such as Eleanor Laing and Oliver Heald, who were active in helping to lead the group, care about the constitution and think about it deeply. But I am most struck by the courage of younger backbenchers who have their careers in front of them, have every prospect of being ministers, and have chosen nonetheless to take the course that they believe to be right. Parliament means party, and party means whip - which, to uphold the coherence of party, backbenchers must usually follow. But not always. In the case of these three and others, consider their courage, honour their convictions. The presence of loyalists shows that the prime minister needs to be careful not to lose control of his party. Growing numbers of MPs, including loyalists, have been questioning the Downing Street operation after the recent U-turns over the budget. Angie Bray, a loyalist who had threatened to resign as ministerial aide to the shadow cabinet office minister Francis Maude, was highly critical of the Lib Dems. "I don't think they have helped themselves with bloodcurdling threats about withdrawing support for other constitutional reform of the House of Commons," Bray told Channel 4 News. So I do think the Liberal Democrats need to think very carefull about how they want the relationship to prosper. Stewart Jackson, who resigned as a ministerial aide to the Northern Ireland secretary Owen Paterson last October after rebelling against the government on whether to hold a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU, said: "An increasing number of people are very frustrated at the compromises that are necessary with coalition." Labour MP Karl Turner tweeted of the prime minister's confrontation with Norman: "Heard him say behaviour not honourable. V animated and clearly aggressive. PM was clearly unhappy. The most immediate impact of the rebellion will be on Cameron's imminent ministerial reshuffle. Some aides said he had decided to delay the vote until the Lords vote in the hope of using the possibility of promotion to entice waverers to fall into line. The prime minister's tactics failed, raising questions about how far his writ runs in the party.