As pressure continues to pile on the UK Prime Minister, bookmakers Ladbrokes have revealed which of his Tory Party colleagues are favourites to be the next Conservative leader.
Mr Johnson's political future is said to be hanging in the balance, with senior Whitehall official Sue Gray expected this week to publish the results of her inquiry into parties that took place in Government buildings while the country was in lockdown, including a Downing Street garden party attended by Boris Johnson.
On top of that, some Conservative MPs have said they are waiting to see what's in her report before deciding whether to call for Mr Johnson to stand down, reports BirminghamLive.
If he goes, Ladbrokes says the favourite to replace him is Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor.
After that comes Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary. And the next candidate in line is Jeremy Hunt, the former Health Secretary.
Here are the odds, according to Ladbrokes:
Rishi Sunak - 11/8
Liz Truss - 11/2
Jeremy Hunt - 7/1
Tom Tugendhat - 12/1
Penny Mordaunt - 14/1
Michael Gove - 16/1
Sajid Javid - 16/1
As things stand, anyone who replaces Boris Johnson as Conservative leader will also become Prime Minister, because the Conservatives have a majority of the seats in Parliament.
The bookmaker also has Boris as odds on to stand down this year.
Odds for "when will Boris be replaced as PM":
2022 - 1/4
2023 - 13/2
2024 or later - 5/1
Downing Street today suggested it may be up to Boris Johnson to decide what is published from Sue Gray’s report into the “partygate” scandal amid concerns staff were keeping back key evidence because it would be seen by the Prime Minister.
Boris Johnson’s former chief aide Dominic Cummings said further evidence of parties held across Whitehall, including in No 10, during coronavirus restrictions was being suppressed by staff “because they know the PM will see everything SG (Sue Gray) collects”.
Downing Street suggested it could be up to Mr Johnson how much of the senior official’s report is made public.
Ms Gray has been tasked with investigating a litany of allegations about parties and gatherings held in 2020 and 2021 while a variety of Covid restrictions were in place.
These include a “bring your own booze” event at No 10 on May 20 2020, which the Prime Minister has admitted attending but that he said he thought was a work event.
The probe also takes in two leaving bashes held in Downing Street the night before the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral last year.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said “it’s very much our intention to publish the findings in full as set out in the terms of reference”.
But asked if it was up to the Prime Minister or Ms Gray what could be published, the spokesman said: “I think it is a report that comes to the Prime Minister.”
Mr Johnson had previously said the report would be published in the House of Commons library.
And on Monday evening, reports were coming out of another lockdown bash - a birthday party for the PM himself.
The Prime Minister is alleged to have celebrated his 56th birthday on June 19, 2020, with up to 30 people including the interior designer who decorated his Number 11 flat Lulu Lytle in the same year, ITV news reports.
His wife Carrie Johnson and Ms Lytle are said to have presented Mr Johnson with a cake, as Carrie led staff to sing a chorus of Happy Birthday.
Members of the public were not allowed to mix indoors at the time, according to Mirror Online.
