More Conservative MPs call on Boris Johnson to resign in the wake of partygate

Former Cabinet Minister Jeremy Wright said the partygate saga had caused “real and lasting damage” to the Government’s authority and he now thought “with regret” that Boris Johnson should step aside.

Meanwhile Carshalton and Wallington MP Elliot Colburn, who has only been in the Commons since 2019, confirmed he had submitted a letter to chair of the 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady calling for a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister’s leadership.

A third Tory MP, Nickie Aiken, suggested Mr Johnson should submit himself to a confidence vote to end the “speculation” over his future.

And Andrew Bridgen emailed his North West Leicestershire constituents to say he has resubmitted his letter of no confidence in Boris Johnson. He originally submitted a letter in January but withdrew it in March, arguing it was not appropriate to stage a confidence vote amid the fighting in Ukraine.

He said: “It may well be the numbers are close to triggering a vote of no confidence.”

They were the latest in an increasingly long line of MPs who have called for the Prime Minister to go since the release of the Sue Gray report into lockdown-breaching gatherings last week.

More than 20 MPs have publicly said they want a vote, although it is not clear whether all of them have written to Sir Graham while others may have putting in a letter without declaring it, making the exact numbers hard to know.

The declarations of concern about Mr Johnson come as Number 10 failed to deny a report that Mrs Johnson hosted an event in the Downing Street flat on the Prime Minister’s 56th birthday in June 2020.

She, Mr Johnson, and Chancellor Rishi Sunak were all fined for attending the gathering in the Cabinet Room earlier that day.

However, over the weekend, The Sunday Times reported that an unnamed aide claimed to have told Sue Gray’s investigation that they had messages showing Mrs Johnson met “several” male friends that evening, with the Prime Minister later heading up to the flat where they were gathered.

Asked about the report, a spokesman said senior civil servant Ms Gray had made clear in her terms of reference that she would look at other allegations where there were “credible” claims that rules had been breached.

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “Less than a week after the release of the Gray report, this raises serious questions about whether Downing Street has been caught lying yet again and why the event has not been investigated.

“The Prime Minister must come clean with the British people.”