Inside Boris Johnson’s showdown with Tory MPs

After Tory MPs spent the afternoon laying into Boris Johnson over Sue Gray’s summary of her report, the Prime Minister finds himself in a much more fragile position than when he started the day. Tonight he addressed Tory MPs at a meeting of the 1922 committee. Given Johnson’s Commons appearance rattled MPs rather than improving relations, Johnson went into the meeting on the backfoot. The demand to hear the PM speak was so great that MPs arriving late were turned away.

Johnson began the meeting by telling MPs he had a really torrid time in the Commons chamber and needed to do a better job of explaining how seriously he took Covid, given it did ‘nearly kill me’. The Prime Minister went on to announce a number of measures to win around Tory MPs. These included publishing the Sue Gray report in full following the police investigation (something he refused to commit to in the chamber), reform 1922 policy groups and bring election guru Lynton Crosby back on a regular basis to offer advice.