Boris Johnson will face a major vote by MPs this Thursday on whether to formally investigate him for 'misleading Parliament'.
The Commons will decide whether to commence a probe over claims he deliberately misled MPs by saying “all guidance was followed completely” in No10.
Speaker Lindsay Hoyle confirmed the move today after talks with Opposition MPs including Labour leader Keir Starmer.
MPs will hold a vote on whether to refer the matter to the Privileges Committee, while Boris Johnson is trying to move on from Partygate on a visit to India.
If approved the committee could investigate and find Boris Johnson in contempt of parliament - like War Secretary John Profumo after he lied about an affair in 1963.
If found guilty he could even be suspended from the Commons.
However the committee could not start a probe unless MPs vote for it, and the PM still has an 80-odd seat majority - suggesting the vote will not pass.
Instead, Labour will use the issue to pressure Tory MPs who told their constituents to follow Covid laws but now refuse to condemn the PM's fine for breaking them.
MPs will vote on a motion tabled by Labour's leader which has not yet reached its final draft. It is likely to be a simple list of the times Sir Keir believes the PM misled the House of Commons and asking MPs to refer the matter to the committee.
Boris Johnson has denied misleading Parliament when he repeatedly denied his Covid lawbreaking, but Labour say the PM must have known his claims were untrue when he made them.
He told the Commons on December 1 that "all guidance was followed completely" in No10 - before it emerged he had attended at least six lockdown gatherings himself.
On December 8, he said he was "sickened myself and furious" when it emerged staff had joked about a Christmas do - again before it emerged the PM was present at several gatherings himself.
On January 12, he said of a 'BYOB' garden party in May 2020: "I believed implicitly that this was a work event". But ex-aide Dominic Cummings later claimed the PM was told in advance and "waved aside" objections.
It comes as Boris Johnson faces MPs this afternoon for the first time since he received a £50 fixed penalty notice for breaking his own Covid laws in June 2020.
The PM was expected to apologise but try to downplay the scale of the lawbreaking - saying he thought he was following the rules at the time.
That is despite the rules saying any social gathering indoors was against the law.
The PM failed to mention his Partygate fine at Cabinet today in the first meeting of his top team since he was hit with a penalty for breaking his own lockdown laws.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman also refused to say explicitly that Mr Johnson had broken the law - despite the PM paying a £50 fine for breaking the law.
He was expected to wriggle out of further censure by trying to convince his critics there are bigger issues to focus on, such as Ukraine and the cost of living crisis.
One ally told the FT: “It’s not as if he walked into a rave in Ibiza.”
And Cabinet minister Brandon Lewis compared the Partygate fine to getting a speeding ticket then tried to U-turn in an excruciating radio interview.
Asked if "lawmakers can be lawbreakers", the Northern Ireland Secretary told the BBC: "Well look sadly we have seen over the years, whether it's been Labour ministers or Conservative ministers having fines for different things."
But he couldn't name any when challenged, saying: "I'm just going on reports I've seen over the weekend."
He then pivoted: "If somebody gets a speeding ticket, I'm not in any way trying to equate a speeding ticket somebody has had with the situation, the sacrifices people have made through Covid. I want to be really clear about that."
Today programme Mishal Husain retorted: "You've actually literally just done that."
It comes as the Prime Minister will address a rare meeting of the full Conservative parliamentary party this evening in a bid to ‘clear the air’.
While only just over a dozen MPs are calling on him to resign, that number could surge if his response to the fine goes down badly.
Ex-minister Andrew Mitchell said “when Parliament returns no doubt we will look at these matters,” suggesting plotters would regroup.
It takes 54 letters of no confidence to the backbench 1922 Committee to prompt a vote of no-confidence in the leader.
