Watch: Johnson’s awkward cabinet meeting

So, what did the Prime Minister know about Chris Pincher’s behaviour and when did he know it? That’s the question the whole of Westminster is asking today after the intervention of Lord McDonald, the former head of the Foreign Office. Given Dominic Raab’s embarrassment this morning, it’s hardly surprising that special advisers are now briefing that they won’t send their ministers out on hostile media rounds to bat for an unsustainable government ‘line’.

It was with exquisite timing therefore that, just hours after McDonald’s intervention, Boris Johnson’s top team gathered around for its weekly cabinet meeting. One recent innovation in the media-savvy Johnson government has been for cameras to be allowed in to cover the Prime Minister’s opening remarks, before being ushered out when business actually begins. But No. 10 spinners might be having second doubts about that initiative now given the, er, less than enthusiastic expressions on the faces of some usually-loyal ministers.