Another Conservative MP has called for Boris Johnson to resign as the turmoil at 10 Downing Street continues.
Former minister Nick Gibb is the latest Tory to submit a letter of no confidence in the prime minister.
He said his constituents were furious that No 10 had been “flagrantly disregarding” the Covid rules they set.
Meanwhile, the Daily Mirror reports a photograph of Mr Johnson holding a beer at a birthday gathering has been handed to police investigating Covid breaches.
The paper said the picture is one of 300 submitted to the Metropolitan Police investigation into 12 alleged gatherings and is thought to have been taken by the PM’s official photographer, who is funded by the taxpayer.
It says it shows the prime minister holding a can of beer at an event in No 10’s Cabinet Room in June 2020, alongside Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who was holding a soft drink.
At the time, gatherings of more than two people inside were banned by law.
It comes at the end of a difficult week for the PM which has seen five No 10 aides resign and the publication of the initial findings of the Sue Gray reportinto events at Downing Street while Covid restrictions were in place.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Gibb, who has served under three prime ministers and who lost his position as schools minister in Boris Johnson’s reshuffle last September, said his constituents were “furious about the double standards” and that “to restore trust, we need to change the prime minister”.
He said Covid restrictions imposed by Boris Johnson were “flagrantly disregarded” in Downing Street, and the PM was inaccurate when, in December, he told the House of Commons there was no party.
“Some argue that eating a few canapes with a glass of prosecco is hardly a reason to resign. But telling the truth matters, and nowhere more so than in the House of Commons where, like a court of law, truth must be told regardless of the personal consequences,” he wrote.
Mr Gibb said fellow backbench Tory Aaron Bell had “struck a chord” when he criticised Mr Johnson over lockdown parties earlier this week.
BBC
