Boris Johnson: Former minister joins calls for PM to resign
Another Conservative MP has called for Boris Johnson to resign as the turmoil at 10 Downing Street continues.
Former minister Nick Gibb is the latest Tory to submit a letter of no confidence in the row over events held at No 10 during lockdown.
And Tory MP Stephen Hammond said he is “considering very carefully” whether he still has confidence in the PM.
But Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries insisted the “vast majority” of Conservative MPs supported Mr Johnson.
Meanwhile, the Daily Mirror reports a photograph of Mr Johnson holding a beer at a birthday gathering has been handed to police investigating Covid breaches.
The paper said the picture was one of 300 submitted to the Metropolitan Police investigation into 12 alleged gatherings and was thought to have been taken by the PM’s official photographer, who is funded by the taxpayer.
It said it showed the prime minister holding a can of beer at an event in No 10’s Cabinet Room in June 2020, alongside Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who was holding a soft drink.
At the time, gatherings of more than two people inside were banned by law.
It comes at the end of a difficult week for the PM, which has seen five No 10 aides resign and the publication of the initial findings of the Sue Gray report into events at Downing Street while Covid restrictions were in place.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Gibb, who has served under three prime ministers and who lost his position as schools minister in Boris Johnson’s reshuffle last September, said his constituents were “furious about the double standards” and that “to restore trust, we need to change the prime minister”.
He said Covid restrictions imposed by Mr Johnson were “flagrantly disregarded” in Downing Street, and the PM was inaccurate when, in December, he told the House of Commons there was no party.
“Some argue that eating a few canapes with a glass of prosecco is hardly a reason to resign. But telling the truth matters, and nowhere more so than in the House of Commons where, like a court of law, truth must be told regardless of the personal consequences,” he wrote.
Stephen Hammond, Conservative MP for Wimbledon, told the BBC Radio 4’s Week in Westminster programme: “I think all Conservative colleagues, all of whom I know, are in it for trying to do the best for their constituents, and the country will be wrestling with their consciences this weekend.”
Mr Hammond said he had not yet submitted a letter of no confidence in the prime minister but would be considering his next steps “very carefully over the weekend”.
He added it “certainly looks like” the beginning of the end for Tory confidence in the prime minister.
Mr Gibb said fellow backbench Tory Aaron Bell had “struck a chord” when he criticised Mr Johnson over lockdown parties earlier this week.
Mr Bell had asked the prime minister if he took him for a fool for following the rules himself – including not hugging his family at his grandmother’s funeral, or going for a cup of tea after the service.