Boris could be in Partygate limbo until NEXT WEEK

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Boris Johnson today insisted he is ‘absolutely not’ trying to water down the Partygate report as Tories drew battle lines over efforts to ‘suppress or conceal’ damaging details.

The PM flatly denied that Sue Gray’s inquiry was being neutered as the wait for the conclusions continued – with fears it might not emerge until next week and complaints that other crucial issues are being ignored.

Ms Gray’s progress appears to have been derailed by the bombshell announcement from Scotland Yard that it has opened a criminal investigation into some of the incidents, after assessing material provided by the Cabinet Office. Although police insisted the report can go ahead, they are now thought to be asking for elements to be held back to avoid undermining their work.

Officials are understood to have been frantically redrafting with lawyers and HR chiefs, as a string of senior staff potentially face the axe.

Tory MP Mark Harper insisted that there must be no suggestion of a cover-up by No10, as rebels gear up for a coup attempt if the findings condemn Mr Johnson. Taking to Twitter to highlight a ‘heartbreaking’ interview with a man who lost his mother, father and sister to Covid in 2020, Mr Harper said: ‘The report must be published in full. Any attempt to conceal or suppress crucial details would be wrong.’ 

But on a visit to Wales this afternoon, Mr Johnson said he was ‘absolutely not’ trying to influence Ms Gray. ‘I am afraid we have got to let the independent inquiry go on,’ he said, adding that the government was ‘getting on with our work’. 

The PM has been on a major charm offensive with wavering MPs over recent years, with many urging him to carry out a broad cull of Downing Street staff as part of a ‘reset’ after the Partygate drama.   

As tensions rise with Russia over Ukraine and mounting panic about the pressure on families from the cost of living, ministers have complained it is increasingly difficult to get decisions from the heart of government.

But sources close to the inquiry told MailOnline that the timing would not be dictated by No10’s desire to confront the story before the weekend.

‘It is not for us to delay the report or bring forward the report to a convenient time,’ the source said. ‘If it is ready at noon today or midnight that is when we will give it. We are not in the business of handing it over at a beneficial time.’  

Mr Johnson is bracing to acknowledge ‘serious mistakes’ and voice regret for lax enforcement of lockdown rules in No10 when the conclusions finally appear. Senior Conservatives are demanding he stages a major clearout of Downing Street staff as the price of staying in power.  

One ally told the Daily Mail: ‘He knows he has made serious mistakes, but he believes he is still the right man to lead this country.’  

Although the PM is committed to making a Commons statement after receiving the report, the House is due to finish sitting at 5pm today.

Mr Johnson will want time to scour the report and assess its implications before he faces hostile questioning from Opposition MPs and his own Tory critics. 

The Commons is running tomorrow but there is no government business and many MPs will have returned to their constituencies.

However, No10 sources indicated they are keen to get the statement done before the weekend if at all possible.  

Cabinet minister Therese Coffey said she did not know why the report into parties in Downing Street and Whitehall during the 2020 lockdowns was taking so long to produce.

‘I know the Government has committed to publishing the full findings of the report but the timing I have absolutely know idea about,’ she told Sky News.

Ms Coffey added: ‘Have I ever been to any parties in Downing Street?

‘The last party I recall going to at Downing Street was the celebration of when the UK left the European Union following the referendum.’

Downing Street has launched a major drive to bring wavering MPs back onside. Mr Johnson held one-to-one meetings with 15 MPs to listen to their concerns and explain his strategy for restoring Tory fortunes.

Amid rising tensions between Ukraine and Russia, one senior Tory suggested any confidence vote might have to be delayed for weeks if Vladimir Putin invades the country in the coming days.

As allies mounting a desperate bid to shore up the PM, Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries became the second Cabinet minister to warn that ousting the Prime Minister could trigger a general election.

That would be a serious threat to Tory MPs in the Red Wall seats seized in Mr Johnson’s 2019 landslide.

There is no requirement for a new leader to hold a general election, but Ms Dorries said previous handovers, such as Tony Blair to Gordon Brown, had taken place in ‘different times’.

Writing on Twitter she said: ‘Blair as example of why we won’t need GE is wrong.

‘It was yonks ago Blair to Brown smooth pre announced handover, no leadership election.

‘Brown was still pressured to go, bottled it and then lost. V different times pre rolling 24hr news / social media.’

Her comments echoed Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Commons leader, who said the UK now had ‘essentially a presidential system’, so any new leader would need their own mandate from the electorate.

Cabinet minister Therese Coffey has said she does not know why the Sue Gray report into parties in Downing Street is being delayed.

The Work and Pensions Secretary said she does not know when the report will come, and when asked why it was being held up, told Sky News: ‘I really don’t know. I know the Government has committed to publishing the full findings of the report but the timing I have absolutely know idea about.’

No 10 said it was yet to receive the report.

Ms Coffey added: ‘Have I ever been to any parties in Downing Street? The last party I recall going to Downing Street was the celebration of when the UK left the European Union following the referendum.’

Downing Street denied that the crisis had led to a go-slow at the heart of government.

Mr Johnson yesterday insisted he was ‘getting on with the job’, pointing to the efforts on Ukraine and the lifting of Covid regulations today. 

But one Whitehall source said it was proving impossible to get decisions out of No 10 – or even arrange meetings with the PM to discuss vital issues.

‘No 10 is completely paralysed,’ the source said. ‘There are important meetings that are not happening because the PM is too busy seeing MPs to try and shore up support. 

‘Decisions are not being taken because everyone is waiting to learn about their own futures. If it drags on it will be unsustainable.’

Sources said government lawyers were having to go through the report with a fine-tooth comb to ensure it did not prejudice the police inquiry.

One source blamed Dame Cressida for the delay and criticised her decision to drop the Met’s previous approach of waiting for Miss Gray’s report to be published before deciding on whether to take action.

Meanwhile, another source suggested the report would have to be ‘significantly toned down’ now that the police probe has been launched, adding: ‘It is very difficult to see how you can publish direct evidence against named people who might be the subject of a police inquiry.’

Downing Street has committed to publishing the report in full within hours of receiving it, with Mr Johnson expected to make an immediate statement.

The PM yesterday confirmed that he might have to resign if the report finds he knowingly misled Parliament over parties in No 10. 

He said he was covered by the ministerial code, which makes misleading parliament a resignation issue.

But allies of the PM are confident that although he previously told MPs that ‘rules were followed at all times’, he is not guilty of knowingly misleading the House as that is what he believed to be true at the time.

The steady stream of allegations over alleged breaches of the rules have undermined the Prime Minister and many of his critics are waiting for Miss Gray’s report before deciding whether or not to submit formal letters saying that they have no confidence in his leadership. 

Several Tory MPs remain poised to submit letters of no confidence in the Prime Minister as soon as Miss Gray’s report is published.

Some believe the threshold of 54 letters could be passed in the coming days, paving the way for a formal vote over his leadership. 

But Bolton MP Mark Logan, who last week hinted he thought the PM should go, today said a meeting with Mr Johnson had convinced him that he had the capacity to get his premiership back on track.

Mr Logan told Sky News: ‘I could see he feels real contrition. He feels very sorry for the mistakes which have been made. But when he digs deep I think he can continue to lead this country.’

Fellow Tory MP Sir Edward Leigh said: ‘I think opinion is calming down at the moment.

‘I think when the history of this is written, people will think it’s almost ridiculous that in the midst of all these global challenges that we face, that serious people were calling on the Prime Minister to resign because of some social events… for which he’s apologised.’

‘Spike tax hike and we’ll back you’: Tory MPs tell Boris Johnson he will win their support over partygate if he reconsiders national insurance rise

Tory MPs are urging Boris Johnson to rethink the national insurance hike as he tries to win their backing over Partygate.

The Prime Minister has met wavering backbenchers in a bid to shore up support ahead of the publication of Sue Gray’s report into claims of lockdown breaches at No 10.

Sources say several have pressed him to delay the national insurance increase and ease the cost of living crisis facing millions of families.

The MPs are thought to want Mr Johnson to be ‘more Conservative’ – in return for backing him to lead them into the next election.

The campaign for Chancellor Rishi Sunak to put off the tax grab is rapidly gathering momentum.

The British Chambers of Commerce and the Institute of Directors both yesterday called for it to be scrapped. They have been inundated with calls from members concerned that the 1.25 percentage point rise in national insurance contributions would damage the economy and stop firms taking on staff. 

Supposed to help fund health and social care, the £12billion tax grab takes effect from April. However, there are concerns that most of the money will be spent on the NHS treatment backlog and that it will come in just as families face rocketing energy and council tax bills.

On Tuesday, the Mail revealed that Lord Frost, the PM’s former Brexit chief, had added his support to calls for the hike to be scrapped. Some Cabinet ministers have insisted that the rise will still go ahead even though the PM appeared to leave the door ajar for a rethink in a television interview.

Official figures this week suggested the Government now had ‘headroom’ to cancel the tax increase after borrowing around £13billion less than expected.

It was claimed that the PM was ‘receptive’ to pleas from MPs and had left them believing he would embark on a ‘massive gear shift’ to tackle the cost of living crisis.

Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg cast doubt over Cabinet support for the policy last night, telling the BBC: ‘I am very pleased you are talking about the cost of living – that is where the Government needs to be putting its energy … but taxation is a matter for the Chancellor.’

Since the national insurance increase was announced in September energy prices have rocketed and inflation has risen to its highest level in three decades.

On top of that, many experts predict that interest rates will rise significantly in the coming months – adding hundreds of pounds to mortgage repayments. The tax grab will cost someone on a £30,000 salary around £255 a year and £505 for those on £50,000. But it also costs businesses because employers have to pay the levy on wages.

Kitty Ussher of the IoD said: ‘This will make the cost of living crisis worse by reducing take-home pay. It’s a tax on jobs, causing businesses to employ less people. It will hurt companies the hardest that have suffered most recently like leisure and hospitality.

‘Businesses will have to pay regardless of whether they are profitable, increasing their costs and pushing up the prices they charge, making inflation even worse. We want to see this tax rise scrapped.

‘Frankly, there’s enough for business leaders to be worrying about in the wider economy at the moment without adding this into the mix.’

The BCC’s Shevaun Haviland said: ‘Our members are telling us they are being squeezed by rising wages due to fierce competition for staff, and that the incoming NI increase will compound this at the worst possible time. If this tax increase is not postponed, we will see a stranglehold put on the economic recovery just when it needs to be powering up. Firms need to be given a chance to come up for air.’

Quizzed on the issue, Mr Johnson’s spokesman replied: ‘We need to responsibly fund how we tackle the backlog and how we deal with the challenge of social care.’