Politics latest news: Sajid Javid resigns as Health Secretary

Sajid Javid has resigned as Health Secretary in the wake of the Chris Pincher row.

In a highly critical resignation letter, Mr Javid wrote: “The tone you set as a leader, and the values you represent, reflect on your colleagues, your party and ultimately the country. Conservatives at their best are seen as hard-headed decision-makers, guided by strong values.

“[The confidence vote] was a moment for humility, grip and new direction. I regret to say, however, that it is clear to me that this situation will not change under your leadership – and you have therefore lost my confidence too.”

​​More to follow. Follow the latest updates below.

06:12 PM

Breaking: Another one – Rishi Sunak resigns as well!

06:10 PM

‘I’m sorry for those who have been badly affected’ – but PM denies lying

Boris Johnson has denied lying to his aides about what he knew when around allegations regarding Chris Pincher.

“Let me explain what happened. We are talking about a series of appointments over seven years.

“Chris Pincher came into government as deputy chief whip before I became Prime Minister, he was move to the Foreign Office, he then went on to be a minister for housing and we then moved him back to be deputy chief whip.

Story continues

“About two and a half years ago I got this complaint, it was something that was only raised with me very cursorily but I wish that we had, I in particular, had acted on it and that he had not continued in government because he then went on, I’m afraid, to behave, as far as we can see, according to the allegations that we have, very, very badly.

“I’m sorry for those who have been badly affected by it.”

06:05 PM

Sajid Javid’s resignation letter in full

The Health Secretary writes: “I have spoken to the Prime Minister to tender my resignation as Secretary of State for Health & Social Care.

“It has been an enormous privilege to serve in this role, but I regret that I can no longer continue in good conscience.”

06:03 PM

Breaking: ‘It was a mistake’ to appoint Chris Pincher, admits Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson has admitted “it was a mistake” to give scandal-hit former deputy chief whip Chris Pincher his Government role in February, and said: “I apologise for it.”

More to follow.

05:55 PM

Analysis: Could tonight see another blow for No 10?

Rumours and speculation are swirling in the corridors of Westminster about possible ministerial resignations tonight, although we should caveat that with nothing having been confirmed.

Any departures would further weaken Boris Johnson’s authority after a torrid week marred by the ever-changing Downing Street response to allegations about Chris Pincher.

Watch this space to see whether there are any further developments or major shocks tonight.

05:38 PM

The ministers wheeled out to respond to Chris Pincher scandal and what they said

Leading Conservatives taking to the airwaves since the Chris Pincher scandal have been repeatedly quizzed on what the Prime Minister knew and Number 10’s response to the crisis.

Here is what each minister said

05:27 PM

How No 10’s story has changed over the Chris Pincher scandal

Downing Street has been urged to “come clean” about what the Prime Minister knew about Chris Pincher as he comes under growing pressure over the handling of the affair.

On Monday morning Boris Johnson was accused of “telling the truth and crossing your fingers at the same time” over its handling of the scandal.

But how exactly has Number Ten’s story changed?

Here, Camilla Turner examines the key claims that have been made ever since the story first broke on Thursday night.

05:14 PM

Nick Gibb: ‘I think the public have lost trust in the PM’

Nick Gibb has joined the ranks of Tory MPs urging the Cabinet to act against Boris Johnson.

Mr Gibb, who called for the PM to go over the partygate scandal, told BBC Radio 4: “I have lost trust in the Prime Minister and I think now it is for the cabinet to stand up for what they believe in as well.

“I think now the matter does move to the cabinet to decide where they stand and the consequence of them not taking a principled view on this issue is that they will be sent out to the defend the indefensible, on the airwaves and at a time when trust in British politics really is at an all-time low.

Asked whether it feels like we are going through a democratic crisis at the moment: “I do. Yes, I think you cannot have a successful democracy where there is a lack of trust and that’s what this is about. It’s about restoring public confidence in our political institutions.”

05:02 PM

And another Johnson critic…

05:00 PM

Former chief whip: We can’t go on like this

Another Tory critic of Boris Johnson piles in.

Mark Harper, the former chief whip, tells Sky News: “Everyone in 10 Downing Street, from the very top, has a duty to tell the truth. To their own ministers as well as the public.

“We can’t go on like this.”

This could get rather bleak for the PM rather quickly. Let’s see if we hear from him soon…

04:48 PM

Breaking: Anthony Mangnall urges Cabinet to resign

This from Mr Mangnall, a member of the 2019 intake who submitted a letter of no confidence in the PM earlier this year:

04:39 PM

No 10 knew of two separate Chris Pincher claims before reshuffle

Downing Street has confirmed it was aware of two separate allegations against Chris Pincher at the time of his promotion to deputy chief whip in February.

No 10 was aware of claims against the former deputy chief whip while he was in post at the Foreign Office in 2019.

“And there’s a further allegation that was looked into on the day of the reshuffle, an allegation that wasn’t taken forward,” the Prime Minister’s official spokesman added.

04:29 PM

Lord McDonald: The former civil servant who ‘never saw eye to eye’ with Boris Johnson

A former civil servant publicly accusing a Prime Minister of lying is a rare event, but Baron McDonald of Salford is unlikely to have had any pangs of guilt about calling out the man who effectively ended his career.

During his time as Boris Johnson’s Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office, Lord McDonald – or Sir Simon, as he was then – was suspected by Mr Johnson of running a spying operation and orchestrating damaging leaks about the then foreign secretary.

Mr Johnson believed that media stories accusing him of being lazy and failing to attend properly to his red boxes of ministerial papers were being briefed by Lord McDonald’s department.

When the Foreign Office merged with the Department for International Development, Mr Johnson, by then Prime Minister, saw to it that Lord McDonald was squeezed out.

​Gordon Rayner has this profile

04:14 PM

No 10 asked: Has anyone spoken to Chris Pincher since Thursday night?

“I don’t know on that point.

“It might be one for the Whips’ Office, but I don’t know what conversations he’s had.”

04:13 PM

Will the PM say sorry tomorrow?

Dominic Penna here taking over from Jack Maidment to guide you through the rest of the day.

Will Boris Johnson apologise tomorrow over No 10’s handling of the Chris Pincher allegations?

The PM is to face a difficult day, first at Prime Minister’s Questions in the chamber and then before the cross-party liaison committee, which is renowned for its tough scrutiny in its tri-annual sessions.

“I don’t know what he will say at the top of PMQs on this,” the Prime Minister’s official spokesman told reporters. “I’m sure he will be asked but I haven’t discussed with him what he’s planning to say.”

03:50 PM

PM backs Ukraine to re-take territory lost to Russia

Boris Johnson told Volodymyr Zelensky during a phone call today that he believes the Ukrainian military can “retake territory recently captured by Putin’s forces”.

The two world leaders spoke this morning (see the post below at 12.03) and Downing Street has issued a readout of what was said.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said: “The Prime Minister spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this morning to update on progress and discussions held at G7 and NATO last week.

“President Zelensky set out the current situation in Ukraine, and recent Russian advances, and the Prime Minister updated on the latest UK military equipment, including 10 self-propelled artillery systems and loitering munitions, which would be arriving in the coming days and weeks.

“The Prime Minister said the world was behind Ukraine, and he believed President Zelensky’s military could retake territory recently captured by Putin’s forces.”

03:39 PM

‘Soul searching’ needed in No 10

Boris Johnson and his Downing Street team need to engage in “real soul searching” to change the way in which they communicate, a former head of the civil service has said.

Lord Kerslake told the BBC: “I do think there is no substitute here for the Prime Minister and his No 10 team having a real soul searching about how they are handling these situations and how they need to change the way that they communicate when they occur.

“They are doing themselves no favours and they are damaging trust in government.”

03:34 PM

Ex-civil service boss suggests No 10 should apologise

Lord Kerslake, the former head of the civil service, said No 10 could “bring the story to a head” on Chris Pincher by apologising over its handling of the row.

He told the BBC: “There must be a complete openness and transparency from No 10 and the Prime Minister. We do need to understand why action was taken to appoint Chris Pincher to be a deputy chief whip, a role that is after all about the wellbeing of MPs as much as anything.

“Why was that appointment made? And if needs be an apology. I think what would bring the story to a head is if we got honesty and accuracy from the Government in the way that Simon has shown in his letter.

“There would be a chance then to move on to the really serious issues that we face in this country.”

03:15 PM

Lord Kerslake labels Lord McDonald intervention ‘very unusual’

Lord Kerslake, the former head of the civil service, said Lord McDonald’s decision to intervene in the Chris Pincher row is “very unusual”.

But he said he welcomed the letter published by Lord McDonald which he described as a “model of clarity” (see the post below at 08.46).

Speaking to the BBC’s World at One programme, the crossbench peer said: “It is very unusual for a former civil servant to write in this way and I can’t think of many examples where it has happened.

“I actually welcome the letter. It is a model of clarity in what has been days of changing stories and indeed inaccuracies from No 10.”

02:51 PM

PM orders ministers to hold regular press conferences

Boris Johnson has ordered ministers to hold regular press conferences to set out the Government’s efforts to counter the rising cost of living.

Regular ministerial press conferences were a feature of the coronavirus pandemic and the decision to restart them is a sign that No 10 is concerned about the public mood in the face of the squeeze on living standards.

Downing Street said the decision to hold televised briefings in the same way as during the Covid-19 crisis showed rising prices were being “treated with the same level of seriousness in terms of trying to address the problem”.

The regular press conferences are expected to be held over the next six months.

02:05 PM

MPs from across Commons blast Government

Senior Tory MP John Penrose, the Government’s former anti-corruption tsar, asked Michael Ellis, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he would finally say “enough is enough” and no longer defend the Government.

Mr Penrose said Lord McDonald’s letter made it “clear” that No 10 has “not been honest in what they have said”.

William Wragg, the Tory chairman of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Select Committee, told Mr Ellis that ministers should ask themselves if “they can any longer tolerate being part of a Government which, for better or worse, is widely regarded of having lost its sense of direction”.

Labour’s Chris Bryant, the chairman of the Commons Standards Committee, said he knew of “many decent Conservative MPs” who feel “terribly ashamed by everything that is happening in this sordid process”.

01:50 PM

PM ‘did not immediately recall’ briefing on 2019 Pincher complaint

Michael Ellis, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, said Boris Johnson “did not immediately recall” last week that he had previously been briefed on a 2019 investigation into a complaint made against Chris Pincher.

Answering an urgent question in the House of Commons, Mr Ellis said: “The Prime Minister was made aware of this issue in late 2019, he was told that the permanent secretary had taken the necessary action, no issue therefore arose about remaining as a minister.

“Last week when fresh allegations arose, the Prime Minister did not immediately recall the conversation in late 2019 about this incident. As soon as he was reminded, the No 10 press office corrected their public lines.

“So, the position is quite clear. Further enquiries will be made but the position is the Prime Minister acted with probity at all times.”

01:37 PM

Minister defends appointment of Chris Pincher

Michael Ellis, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, defended Boris Johnson’s decision to appoint Chris Pincher to the role of deputy chief whip in February as he answered an urgent question on the scandal in the House of Commons.

He told MPs: “I ask the House to accept that bearing in mind the member in question (Chris Pincher) had been reappointed to government by a previous prime minister in 2018, and then that he’d been appointed in 2019 as a Foreign Office minister and then, crucially, he was appointed for a third time in February, I doubt whether anyone could in knowledge of those facts say that this Prime Minister should have acted otherwise than he did.

“It is the morally fair thing to do in any case to assess the situation based on evidence, not unsubstantiated rumour. It is incumbent on all of us in this House, as it is in society generally, to act fairly.

“If there is no evidence at the time, if there is no live complaint, no ongoing investigation, surely it is not unreasonable to consider making an appointment.”

01:32 PM

No 10 rejects lying accusation

Lord McDonald, the former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, claimed this morning that No 10 has not been “telling the truth” about the Chris Pincher scandal.

The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman rejected the accusation of lying at lunchtime.

The spokesman was asked if he was “planning on telling us the truth today”. The spokesman replied: “Yes, in short, as ever I will always seek to provide the information I have available to me at the time of each briefing.”

01:23 PM

No 10 suggests PM forgot about briefing on Pincher complaint

No 10 said that the briefing received by Boris Johnson on the 2019 complaint made against Chris Pincher “dates back a number of years”.

Asked directly if Mr Johnson had forgotten about it, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman said: “That is not how I would characterise it, I think I would simply say that at some times these issues are raised and I don’t believe, but I haven’t confirmed, this was part of a formal meeting or a formal update.”

A rough suggested timeline of events was put to the spokesman of the PM being unable to remember being briefed on Friday, officials then discovering he was briefed, another conversation then being had with the PM, him then remembering which then prompted No 10 to change its line yesterday.

The spokesman said: “Broadly. Although I would add the caveat that this was related to a conversation, what I believe to be a brief conversation, that took place around three years ago.”

Asked again if he was saying that the PM could not initially remember the briefing, the spokesman said: “I haven’t asked him directly but he didn’t recall it at that time.”

01:16 PM

Downing Street confirms PM was briefed on 2019 Pincher complaint

Downing Street has confirmed that Boris Johnson was briefed about a 2019 complaint made against Chris Pincher when he was a Foreign Office minister.

Asked if the PM was briefed, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman said: “I don’t have a date for you. On the FCDO case I can confirm he was briefed on that about the complaint relating to Mr Pincher in the Foreign Office which was resolved. I don’t believe that that was a formal meeting to inform him of it.”

Told that on Friday No 10 had said the PM was not aware of any “specific allegations” against Mr Pincher when he was appointed deputy chief whip in February, the spokesman said: “We always seek to provide the information we have at the time. The allegation, the Prime Minister at the time when he offered the job, was not aware of any new specific allegations that were being looked at.”

The spokesman said “some of the facts around this have taken some time to establish”.

01:03 PM

Angela Rayner criticises PM’s handling of Pincher row

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner has asked an urgent question in the Commons on the Chris Pincher row.

Ms Rayner has said Boris Johnson is either “negligent or complicit” in the handling of the allegations.

Speaking in the Commons, she said that since the resignation of the PM’s ethics adviser last month there was “an even bigger ethical vacuum in Downing Street with no accountability in place”.

12:17 PM

Cabinet ministers appear grim-faced at morning meeting

Some of my lobby journalist colleagues have pointed out on Twitter that Cabinet this morning does not appear to have been a particularly cheerful event.

12:03 PM

PM holds talks with Zelensky

11:39 AM

Tory MP would rather ‘dip my head in a bucket of sick’ than do broadcast interviews

Dominic Raab suffered a bruising media round this morning as he was grilled about Downing Street’s handling of the Chris Pincher scandal.

There had been speculation that senior Cabinet ministers could refuse to agree to broadcast interviews this week, forcing junior ministers to speak for the Government instead.

One Tory MP told The Telegraph he would rather “dip my head in a bucket of sick” than have to go on the radio or television defending the Government’s handling of the scandal.

11:25 AM

Senior Tory MP accuses PM of asking ministers to ‘defend the indefensible’

Senior Tory backbencher Sir Roger Gale, a long-standing critic of Boris Johnson, said Lord McDonald’s letter showed the Prime Minister had lied.

He said he would now support a change of the rules of the Conservative 1922 Committee to allow a fresh vote of confidence in the Prime Minister to go ahead within 12 months of the previous one.

“Mr Johnson has for three days now been sending ministers – in one case a cabinet minister – out to defend the indefensible, effectively to lie on his behalf. That cannot be allowed to continue,” he told the BBC.

He added: “I have been saying for days now that I was not in favour of changing the rules of the 1922 Committee to permit another vote of confidence within the one-year timescale. Lord McDonald’s letter has changed my view.

“It is so blatant a lie it has to be acted upon as swiftly as possible by my party.”

11:08 AM

Labour granted Commons urgent question on Pincher row

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner has been granted an urgent question in the Commons on the Chris Pincher row. It should get underway just after 12.30pm.

Ms Rayner will ask Cabinet Office Minister Michael Ellis to “make a statement on the mechanisms for upholding standards in public life”.

10:49 AM

Government ‘taking the steps that are necessary’ on cost of living

Boris Johnson said a national insurance cut which will be rolled out from tomorrow showed the Government is using its “fiscal firepower” right now to help address the cost-of-living crisis.

He also said the Government is “taking the steps that are necessary to bear down on costs in the medium and the long-term as well”.

“Reforming our energy market, reforming our housing markets, tackling the cost of transport as we are now, tackling the cost of government, and everywhere always making sure that we get business, get international investors, to come and invest in this country in the way that they are, at an enormous scale,” the Prime Minister said.

Mr Johnson singled out Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey for praise at the Cabinet meeting.

“Tiz (Ms Coffey) did succeed in fulfilling her pledge, she got 500,000 from January off welfare into work. What that did was that saved the taxpayer billions of pounds, it helped employers find the workforce that they need and, of course, it transformed the lives of half-a-million people.”

10:44 AM

PM focuses on cost of living at Cabinet

Boris Johnson focused on the economy and taxation as he opened Cabinet this morning as he sought to move on from the Chris Pincher scandal.

Speaking ahead of a cut in national insurance contributions which comes into effect from tomorrow, the Prime Minister said it was part of a package to help people grapple with the rising cost of living.

He told the Cabinet: “It will be in people’s pay packets from tomorrow onwards and amongst other things it is there to help people up and down the country with the cost of living.

“It’s part of the £37 billion that we are able to spend to help people through the current pressures on food prices, on energy prices, that we are seeing.

“It shows that the Government is firmly on the side of the British people.”

10:40 AM

How have the opposition parties responded to Lord McDonald’s letter?

Labour

Angela Rayner, the deputy leader of the Labour Party, said: “Boris Johnson’s desperate attempts to cover up what he knew about sexual assault complaints against Chris Pincher before appointing him have been blown out the water.

“It is now clear that the Prime Minister knew about the seriousness of these complaints but decided to promote this man to a senior position in government anyway. He refused to act and then lied about what he knew.”

Liberal Democrats 

Daisy Cooper, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: “Lord McDonald has shone a new light on this murky cover-up. Boris Johnson needs to own up to his web of lies and finally come clean today. Every day this carries on our politics gets dragged further through the mud.”

SNP 

Brendan O’Hara, the SNP’s shadow Cabinet Office spokesman, said: “This evidence from a former senior official in the Foreign Office demolishes Boris Johnson’s claims and raises serious questions over whether he has lied and broken the ministerial code. There must now be a full investigation.”

10:34 AM

Dominic Raab ‘not aware’ PM was briefed on Pincher complaint

Dominic Raab said he was “not aware” of Boris Johnson having been “briefed directly” about a complaint made against Chris Pincher when he was a foreign office minister in 2019.

Lord McDonald, the former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, said this morning that Mr Johnson was briefed “in person”.

But Mr Raab told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “In relation to what happened in 2019, I’m not aware that the Prime Minister was briefed directly about it.”

10:18 AM

‘I dispute the use of the word “resolved”’

Downing Street said yesterday that Boris Johnson was aware of claims made against Chris Pincher before he was appointed to the role of deputy chief whip but they had either been “resolved or did not progress to a formal complaint”.

Lord McDonald, the former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, said he would “dispute” the use of the word “resolved” given the 2019 investigation into Mr Pincher.

He told the BBC: “I dispute the use of the word ‘resolved’. For me ‘resolved’ is too positive a word. It sounds as though a happy and agreed conclusion was reached.

“No, the complaint was upheld so to leave the impression that in some way Mr Pincher was exonerated is wrong.”

10:15 AM

‘Categorical assurance was wrong’

Will Quince, the minister for children and families, said yesterday that No 10 had given him a “categorical assurance that the Prime Minister was not aware of any specific allegation or complaint made against the former deputy chief whip” when Chris Pincher was made deputy chief whip in February.

Lord McDonald said that “categorical assurance was wrong”.

He said: “I do not think that is the way to behave. It is very unusual for a retired official to do what I have done this morning, I did it by myself because what I have seen and read over the last few days, I knew to be wrong.

“And things get to a point where you have to do the right thing.”

10:04 AM

Lord McDonald insists PM was briefed ‘in person’ on Pincher complaint

Lord McDonald, the former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, said he is sure Boris Johnson was briefed “in person” about a complaint made against Chris Pincher when he was a Foreign Office minister in 2019.

Asked how the investigation was communicated to No 10, Lord McDonald said: “I briefed the relevant senior official in the Cabinet Office. You will understand that such complaints about ministers are very rare, very sensitive, they are dealt with at the very top level and so I had the help and support of the Cabinet Office through the investigation.”

Asked if he was sure that Mr Johnson was told, Lord McDonald told the BBC: “I know that the senior official briefed the Prime Minister in person because that official told me so at the time.”

09:44 AM

No 10 must ‘come clean’

Lord McDonald, former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, said Downing Street needed to “come clean” over its handling of questions about the Prime Minister’s awareness of allegations against Chris Pincher.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think they need to come clean. I think that the language is ambiguous, the sort of telling the truth and crossing your fingers at the same time and hoping that people are not too forensic in their subsequent questioning and I think that is not working.”

09:19 AM

Dominic Raab ‘did not tell PM about Pincher complaint’

Dominic Raab, the Deputy Prime Minister, said he did not tell Boris Johnson about the complaint made against Chris Pincher when the latter was a Foreign Office minister in 2019.

Mr Raab, who was foreign secretary at the time, said he did inform the chief whip.

Asked if he told the PM about the investigation, Mr Raab told Sky News: “No, and I wouldn’t expect to in relation to something that fell below the bar of disciplinary action.

“What I did do was inform the chief whip because I do think it is important that we keep a proper record and I referred it to the Cabinet Office Propriety and Ethics Team because I wanted the assurance and that is not to say that I disagreed with the view of the permanent secretary or the Civil Service but because I attach such importance to those around and those who work with us having the confidence in the processes which are there to protect them.”

08:48 AM

Dominic Raab declines to set out nature of complaint

Dominic Raab was asked what the complaint was that was made against Chris Pincher when he was a Foreign Office minister in 2019.

But the Deputy Prime Minister refused to be drawn, telling Sky News: “Just because I am respecting the confidentiality of the processes and those involved I don’t think it is right for me to go into that.”

08:47 AM

Dominic Raab confirms Pincher Foreign Office complaint

Dominic Raab, the Deputy Prime Minister, confirmed this morning that Chris Pincher was the subject of a complaint of “inappropriate behaviour” when he was a Foreign Office minister in 2019.

Mr Raab, who was the foreign secretary at the time, said the complaint was investigated “under the Civil Service’s auspices” and it “did not recommend formal disciplinary action”.

Mr Raab said: “I spoke to Chris Pincher about the inappropriate behaviour and made it clear in no uncertain terms it should desist, it must never be repeated, so did the permanent secretary.

“For additional assurance, because I take this so seriously, I also referred it to the Cabinet Office propriety and ethics team which also looked at it for example to see whether action was warranted under the ministerial code, they didn’t, they agreed that it didn’t warrant that.

“So although there was a complaint made about inappropriate behaviour it did not trigger the disciplinary action either at the Civil Service level or the Cabinet Office level in relation to the code of conduct.”

08:46 AM

Lord McDonald’s letter in full

08:45 AM

Ex-Foreign Office chief: PM was briefed ‘in person’ about Pincher complaint

Lord Simon McDonald, the former permanent secretary and head of the Diplomatic Service at the Foreign Office, has claimed Boris Johnson was briefed “in person” about an investigation into an allegation of “inappropriate behaviour” against Chris Pincher when the latter was a Foreign Office minister in 2019.

Lord McDonald of Salford has submitted a formal complaint to Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Kathryn Stone saying the account given by Downing Street of Mr Johnson’s handling of the scandal was “not true”.

In his letter Lord McDonald said: “Mr Johnson was briefed in person about the initiation and outcome of the investigation. There was a ‘formal complaint’.

“Allegations were ‘resolved’ only in the sense that the investigation was completed; Mr Pincher was not exonerated.”

Downing Street had said yesterday that Mr Johnson knew of concerns about Mr Pincher’s conduct when he made him deputy chief whip in February this year but the claims the PM knew about were “either resolved or did not progress to a formal complaint”.

08:26 AM

Good morning

Good morning and welcome to today’s politics live blog.

Boris Johnson is under growing pressure over his handling of the Chris Pincher scandal.

The PM will host a meeting of his Cabinet this morning but he is struggling to stabilise his premiership after the resignation of the deputy chief whip last week.

It promises to be a busy day in Westminster and I will guide you through the key developments.