Washington | Representative Jim Jordan and his allies have begun a right-wing pressure campaign against Republicans opposed to electing him US Speaker, working to unleash the rage of the party’s base voters against any lawmaker standing in the way of his election.

Even after Mr Jordan, the hard-right Ohio Republican, won his party’s nomination for the post on Friday (Saturday AEDT), he remained far short of the 217 votes he needed to win the gavel, with scores of his colleagues refusing to back him.