Downing Street party: Johnson to face MPs as Tories discuss his future

Boris Johnson is expected to face more questions about his leadership at Prime Minister's Questions, as the row over lockdown parties at No 10 continues.

A group of the newest Conservative MPs are believed to be preparing to submit letters of no confidence in him, having met to discuss the issue on Tuesday.

If 54 Tory MPs submit letters, it would trigger a leadership contest.

Only seven are known to have done so but one MP told the BBC they thought the threshold could be reached shortly.

Another said there was now a consensus, and a leadership contest could come sooner rather than later.

However, only MP Sir Graham Brady, chair of the Conservative backbenchers 1922 committee - who receives and counts up the no-confidence requests - knows the exact number.

On Tuesday a group of Tory MPs - who were first elected at the last election in 2019 - met to discuss the PM's future and whether to submit letters of no confidence.

Many Conservatives have said they want to wait for civil servant Sue Gray to complete her report into gatherings in Downing Street before deciding what to do.

In an interview with the BBC, Africa Minister Vicky Ford said "of course everybody is angry, of course everybody is really distressed" but she said it was important to let Ms Gray finish her inquiry.

"Then we can decide upon what next steps to take," she added.

On Tuesday, Mr Johnson insisted he was not warned a drinks party in No 10 on 20 May 2020 could be in breach of Covid rules.

Speaking to a reporter, he said he "humbly" apologised to people for "misjudgements that were made" but added he was "absolutely categorical" that "nobody said to me this is an event that is against the rules".

This contradicts the account of his former adviser Dominic Cummings who says he cautioned the prime minister about the event, billed in the invitation as "socially distanced drinks".

He also accused his former boss of lying to Parliament about his knowledge of gatherings in Downing Street.

Asked if he would resign if he was found to have misled MPs, Mr Johnson said: "Let's see what the report says."

When Boris Johnson faces Sir Keir Starmer in the Commons later, he will know that some of his fiercest critics will be sitting behind, and not in front of, him.

Half a dozen of his own MPs have publicly called for him to go, and some others are privately of the same view.

He will, of course, expect to hear cheers from supporters and from some other colleagues who want to rally round in the face of Labour attacks.

Perhaps more crucially, though, are a disparate group of MPs that you might call "considerers".

They are weighing up whether to submit letters of no confidence, which would trigger a leadership contest.

And they will be listening closely to his answers.

So far, six Conservative MPs have publicly stated that they have submitted letters of no confidence in Mr Johnson to Sir Graham.

The BBC has been told a seventh - Christian Wakeford, the MP for Bury South - has also sent in a letter.

One MP involved in trying to encourage others to send letters told the BBC: "I think we've done it", but added "difficult to tell though - lots of shift today. The whips operation completely backfired. Colleagues now have a sense they aren't alone."

Conservative Chris Loder is among the 2019 intake of MPs who attended one of the meetings to discuss the row.

The West Dorset MP said: "Our meetings have been none other than a group of Conservative MPs sharing views and opinions amongst one another - as happens here day in, day out.

"I want to make sure that decency, honour and integrity are returned to the heart of government and I think that would be a good shared objective, rather than the distraction of briefing out about rebellion ringleaders."

The meeting was nicknamed by one cabinet minister as the "pork pie plot" because one of the attendees was Alicia Kearns, who represents Rutland and Melton (home of Melton Mowbray pies). Colleagues of Ms Kearns say she is not leading a rebellion.

The minister also said they believed the prime minister would survive the current threat saying: "It will be bumpy, but we'll get through."

Lord Marland, a former Conservative party treasurer and Johnson ally, said MPs should "be careful what they wish for because the alternative is probably not thinkable".

Speaking to Newsnight, he said people should not "want to pillory a man who has led us through this crisis and create turmoil within the country".

Northern Ireland minister Conor Burns also urged people to get behind Mr Johnson, telling Channel 4: "Boris won seats for us in that 2019 election I never imagined would fall into the Conservative column."