‘If it goes to a vote he’s finished’: the battle to save Boris

Two years ago, Boris Johnson had British politics at his feet. He had won the largest Tory majority since Thatcher, broken the Brexit deadlock and forged a new electoral coalition.

Yet Johnson now finds himself on the verge of a vote of no confidence by his own MPs, and this turnaround hasn’t been triggered by some great ideological divide: this isn’t like old Tory arguments over imperial preference, the poll tax or Europe but by Johnson’s own behaviour and the way No. 10 is run.

Downing Street had hoped that Sue Gray’s report would come out later this week, and they presumed it would give them the opportunity to launch a fightback. The plan was to argue that Johnson hadn’t knowingly broken the rules and that a Prime Ministerial resignation would be a disproportionate response. Various people were set to fall on their swords to show that the Downing Street culture was changing.