BORIS Johnson will today face a dramatic PMQs showdown with Labour and furious Tory MPs after another hellish week of No 10 party revelations.
The PM will get up on his feet in the Commons at noon when he is likely to face another verbal battering over claims of Downing St rule breaking.
He is hoping to get his premiership back on track later this afternoon by announcing the good news that Plan B restrictions are being binned.
But first Boris will have to navigate a stormy Westminster chamber amid growing rumours that a challenge to his leadership is imminent.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is set to go in heavily once more on what he knew about the lockdown-busting parties happening under his own roof.
And there has been chatter that backbench Tories are getting close to submitting the 54 letters that would trigger a no confidence vote in the PM.
It came as…
- Tories elected on Boris Johnson’s coat-tails in 2019 met to discuss ditching him
- The PM will TODAY summon his Cabinet to free England from Plan B restrictions
- Dominic Cummings tonight accused Boris of lying to Parliament over the party-gate affair.
- But education secretary Nadhim Zahawi insisted the PM “is safe in his job” despite the scandal
Efforts to oust him are being led by a group of 2019 intake MPs, mostly from vulnerable Red Wall seats that are being targeted by Labour.
They are known as the “pork pie plotters” because one of the ringleader, Alicia Kearns, represents the town of Melton Mowbray.
Today a junior minister admitted that he can “sympathise” with the rebels, and said the No 10 party scandal has made everyone angry.
Armed forces minister James Heappey, a former parliamentary private secretary to the PM, even acknowledged the PM’s excuses “sound absurd”.
But he suggested Boris may have been let down by staff who didn’t “have his back” when they let him attend the No 10 garden bash unawares.
He said: “I think everybody in Government, everybody in Parliament, is acutely concerned about what has happened and the reaction of the public.
“Our boss is not the Prime Minister. Our boss is those who send us to Westminster to represent us and they are furious at what they have heard.
“So it doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that every single member of the Government, every single member of the party, is balancing those two loyalties.”
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Asked whether he had sympathy with 2019 MPs who were “battered on the doorstep” by constituents, Mr Heappey said: “We all were.
“I have sympathy with every colleague because this is not easy.
“This is extraordinarily difficult and my mail bag is like theirs, all our mail bags are like this.”
He revealed that he has received more than 500 letters from constituents about the PM’s behaviour.
And he added: “The overwhelming majority – at least nine in 10, if not 19 in 20 – are absolutely furious and cannot understand how all of this has happened.”
“I choose to believe what the Prime Minister has said. But I know that that’s not good enough for many of my constituents.”
PM in crisis
Mr Heappey said it was possible Sue Gray’s report into the parties could find Boris misled parliament.
He added: “Ministers know when they stand pat the despatch box they need to be accurate with their language. I sincerely hope the PM was.”
The No 10 party scandal has sparked the biggest crisis of Boris’ premiership and has seen the Tories slump in the polls.
Yesterday leading pollster Sir John Curtice warned the PM is unlikely to ever fully recover from the scandal in the eyes of the public.
No 10 is pinning its hopes on highlighting Boris’ record on Covid as he prepares to ditch most Plan B restrictions this afternoon.
The Cabinet is set to sign off on plans to scrap working from home guidance and vaccine passports at mass events.
But rules on wearing face masks on public transport and in shops are likely to stay until Omicron cases dip further.
And today there were signs that even this move won’t be enough to calm the anger felt by many backbench Tories.
Ex Brexit negotiator Lord Frost, a favourite of many Conservative MPs, insisted the PM’s move doesn’t go far enough.
He said: “It is good news if the Cabinet does decide this morning to lift some Plan B restrictions.
“But the job isn’t done if mask wearing remains in place. The evidence for masks is weak and the many downsides are persistently discounted.
“All Plan B measures need lifting *for good*.”
