Downing Street has said that Boris Johnson is unlikely to he seen in public for the next week, after a member of his immediate family tested positive for Covid-19. Theresa May, speaking after Mr Ellwood’s intervention, said: “If people see us making rules for them and acting as if they are not for us that trust that I spoke about between the public and Parliament is undermined. Rewinding back to Monday, Colchester MP Will Quince defended Boris Johnson, saying the PM "was not aware" of allegations made against Pincher. After meeting with the Queen to confirm her appointment, Ms Truss will be setting up her desk at No10 to proceed with her new job and cabinet.

Steven Fielding, professor of political history at the University of Nottingham, likened Johnson to "a sulky teenager in the bedroom, just doing what he wants and shouting at the parents once in a while. Former education secretary Justine Greening told Newsnight she believes Johnson should stand down immediately. To many Democrats like President Joe Biden, Johnson and Donald Trump are political peas in a pod, with similar views on trade and immigration and similarly iconoclastic political instincts.

Sky News’s deputy political editor, Sam Coates, has tweeted another screenshot of the now infamous Tory MP WhatsApp group. They highlighted achievements including delivering Brexit, the vaccine rollout, supporting people with the cost of living and his global leadership after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, No 10 said. Labour veteran and Privileges Committee chair Harriet Harman thanked “every member of the Privileges Committee” for their “outstanding dedication and commitment”, adding: “But particularly the Conservative members of the committee. While they have to leave their Number 11 flat – which they had expensive plans for -Mr Johnson and his family will reportedly be moving to south London. He adds: "Colleagues have done their upmost [sic] in private and public to help you turn the ship around, but it is with sadness that I feel we have passed the point where this is possible".

Front-runner Rishi Sunak, who served as Treasury chief under Johnson until he resigned earlier this month, is under attack by rivals for spending billions to keep workers and businesses afloat during the coronavirus pandemic, and raising taxes to help pay for it. Some MPs were openly discussing sending letters to the chair of the backbench 1922 committee, Graham Brady, demanding a vote of no confidence in Johnson. The Prime Minister has admitted he did attend a garden party at Downing Street in May 2020 – at the height of the first Covid-19 lockdown – despite previously denying any parties happened.He has been spelling out to them [cabinet ministers] that 14 million people voted for him," the source says, adding that if the Conservative Party "want to deprive him [Johnson] doing that job, they have take to take that mandate off them". Reports suggest they wanted to replace Theresa May’s “John Lewis nightmare” with the upmarket designs of Lulu Lytle, known as “the saviour of British rattan”.

The findings could come as soon as the end of next week but more likely the week after, a cabinet source suggested.Isle of Wight MP Bob Seely told MPs he would vote for the report, but said: “I am so over Boris, and I am pretty over lockdown as well.

That lack of an overwhelming favourite is part of the reason a whole slew of candidates, from Grant Shapps to Jake Berry, have not ruled out a tilt at the top job (and, incidentally, helped Johnson to hang on for longer). In his resignation letter to Boris Johnson, Hart says: "I had desperately hoped that I could avoid writing this letter, but alas there seems no other option left but to step down from my role as secretary of state for Wales".Johnson clung to power despite being fined by police over “partygate,” but finally quit on July 7 after one scandal too many — appointing a politician who had been accused of sexual misconduct — drove ministers to resign en masse.