Cabinet ministers are ready to turn on Boris Johnson if he tries to stamp on the findings of this week’s Partygate report, according to Tory insiders.
The Prime Minister’s inner circle will tell him he must quit if he overrules Whitehall enforcer Sue Gray’s probe into No10 parties that allegedly breached Covid rules.
Wannabe leader Chancellor Rishi Sunak has already distanced himself from Mr Johnson.
And others will turn hostile if he tries to use his PM’s power to make the final decision on whether the ministerial code was broken.
Ms Gray is investigating at least 16 parties across Whitehall – most of them held at No10 and four of which the PM attended. She will also have to probe Daily Mirror revelations that Downing Street staffers held “wine-time Fridays” throughout the pandemic – and installed a £142 drinks fridge to keep their Prosecco chilled.
Ms Gray will produce a clinically factual report and it will be for standards watchdog Lord Geidt to decide whether the PM breached the ministerial code.
But a senior Tory insider said: “Boris has the power to block any investigation. He alone decides whether he has broken the code.”
The PM wielded that power when Home Secretary Priti Patel was found to have breached the code by bullying staff – but kept her job.
Labour Deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “Any judgement on the conduct of Boris Johnson goes to... Boris Johnson. He has managed to make himself judge and jury even though he’s in the dock.”
Tory backbench shop steward Sir Graham Brady needs 54 Tory MPs to demand a vote of no confidence for a leadership ballot and it is estimated he has 20.
Many MPs are holding off until they have seen Ms Gray’s report, as they fear moving against the PM too early would throw him a lifeline. Rules mean if fewer than half of Tory MPs vote against Mr Johnson he cannot be challenged for another year.
Cabinet ministers could sidestep that by prising Mr Johnson out of No10, as with Margaret Thatcher in 1990. And local Tory associations could follow Sutton Coldfield’s lead by declaring no confidence in the PM. It would take 65 of them to force a special conference.
But some angry Tory MPs, swamped by complaints from constituents, could not wait for the report.
Tobias Ellwood, chair of the Commons Defence Committee, said: “He must lead or step aside.” And Andrew Bridgen, the only Tory MP to admit to sending a no-confidence letter, added: “Boris has lost the moral authority to lead.”
Labour leader Keir Starmer said it was “now in the national interest” that the PM goes. He spoke as a poll gave Labour a 14-point lead – the highest since Tony Blair ’s days as PM.
