A summary of today's developments
The Conservative MP for Selby and Ainsty, Nigel Adams, has stepped down with immediate effect, the third Tory MP to resign in 24 hours after Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries.
Labour has established a clear lead over the Tories in more than 100 battleground seats that will decide the next election, according to a new analysis seen by the Observer. Keir Starmer’s party has now secured a 10% swing from the Conservatives in a set of 144 seats in which the vote will be won and lost. Labour now holds a seven-point lead over the Tories in the seats, which include marginals in England, Wales and Scotland.
Boris Johnson is a “coward” who has “no respect” for the 2019 Conservative voters who put their faith in him, Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, has said. Rayner added that Johnson jumped to avoid a potential byelection in his west London constituency.
Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, has ruled out a formal pact with Labour to encourage tactical voting in order to beat the Conservatives in the byelections triggered by Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries’ shock resignations.
David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, said “most” MPs thought Boris Johnson had misled the House of Commons with his Partygate assurances. The Tory MP told GB News: “The truth of the matter is, ask around parliament, ask most of the MPs, most people are fairly sure he misled the house. And he did so many times and he did so knowing that these parties had occurred and he had been at some of them. It is hard to be at a party and not notice it is a party.”
Rishi Sunak is under growing pressure to bar Boris Johnson from standing as a Conservative candidate at the next election, as senior Tories accused the former prime minister and his allies of a coordinated attempt to derail the government, writes Michael Savage and Toby Helm.
Amid anger at Johnson within the party over his explosive departure, in which he said he was only leaving Westminster “for now” and accused a cross-party committee of “egregious bias”, there is now a concerted push among senior Tories to ensure Johnson has no route back to the Commons for the foreseeable future.
One senior member of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, a former backer of Johnson, said it was the clear view among colleagues that he should be blocked from standing for another Tory seat at the next election.
