Boris Johnson suggests Sue Gray was wrong person to lead Partygate inquiry amid new evidence he misled MPs – as it happened

Former PM Boris Johnson will give Partygate evidence to the privileges committee in week of 20 March. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

5.41pm GMT

Afternoon summary

• Boris Johnson faces a battle for his future in parliament after a cross-party committee found there was significant evidence he misled MPs over lockdown parties, and that he and aides almost certainly knew at the time they were breaking rules. In an analysis of the report from the privileges committee, Rowena Mason says:

For all the extra shocking details [the committee] have published, their argument appears to be very straightforward: Johnson announced the rules, broke the rules and then denied that the rules had been broken.

It would have been obvious to the prime minister, they suggest, that his presence at these gatherings was against the guidance, and therefore he could not claim to have been ignorant of parties or to have needed assurances that they were above board. These are core parts of Johnson’s defence, according to the statement he put out within minutes of the interim report’s publication.

The almost 500-word justification and a subsequent television appearance from Johnson showed he was in full fightback mode. Johnson claimed the report had vindicated him because there was nothing saying he had misled parliament knowingly or recklessly. The committee may not yet have concluded definitively that Johnson misled the Commons, but in no way does it put him in the clear.

Rowena’s full analysis is here.

• Keir Starmer has defended his controversial decision to offer Sue Gray a role as his next chief of staff, calling the senior civil servant a “really strong professional”.

• Neil Coyle will be suspended from the House of Commons for five days and has made a public apology in parliament after breaching its harassment policy with incidents of “drunken abuse” and “racist comments”.

• The government has promised to underline Northern Ireland’s place in the UK with legal “assurances” in an effort to convince unionists to back Rishi Sunak’s Brexit deal.

• Three health unions have agreed to call off strike action planned for next week and enter into pay talks with the health secretary, Steve Barclay, after the government made significant concessions in an attempt to end the protracted dispute.

Boris Johnson in London this afternoon. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

Updated at 5.51pm GMT

5.33pm GMT

Former civil service chief says it's 'patently absurd' to say Sue Gray part of plot to bring down Johnson

In an article for the Guardian Bob Kerslake, a former head of the civil service, says that the theory that Sue Gray set out to bring down Boris Johnson is “patently absurd”. He is referring to claims made by Tories such as Jacob Rees-Mogg (see 11.09am) and Nadine Dorries (see 4.31pm).

Kerslake says:

The notion that Gray was part of a “stitch-up” of Boris Johnson and his government through her role in leading the Partygate inquiry is patently absurd. Sue had left her ethics role to work in Michael Gove’s department when the inquiry began, and took on the lead role only when the cabinet secretary, Simon Case, recused himself from the role. At that time, there was no vacancy for Labour’s chief of staff role.

Gray’s report was hard hitting but scrupulously fair, and indeed the prime minister argued when it was published that he had been exonerated by it. Conspiracy theorists should not waste time looking any further. The prime suspect for the Johnson government’s demise is Boris Johnson.

You can read the full article here.

Updated at 5.52pm GMT