Boris appoints Steve Barclay as Chief of Staff and ex GB News journo Guto Harri as director of comms

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Boris Johnson has this evening announced new chiefs of staff and communications as the embattled prime minister clings onto his job amid the ongoing Partygate storm. 

Brexiteer and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Steve Barclay will become the PM’s chief of staff, while former GB News presenter and outspoken Remainer Guto Harri will head up the communications role. 

Mr Johnson said both men will ‘improve how No 10 operates, strengthen the role of my Cabinet and backbench colleagues, and accelerate our defining mission to level up the country’.

It comes after the PM was rocked by the dramatic resignation of his long-serving policy chief Munira Mirza this week, one of the last aides remaining from his days as London Mayor at City Hall. 

Ms Mirza quit on Thursday with a damning letter criticising Mr Johnson for his use of a ‘scurrilous’ smear against Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, over the failure to prosecute Jimmy Savile.

Resignations followed from director of communications Jack Doyle, chief of staff Dan Rosenfield, principal private secretary Martin Reynolds, and special adviser in the policy unit Elena Narozanski. 

The Sunday Times reported on Saturday that special adviser Henry Newman, a friend of the PM’s wife Carrie, would also leave No 10 and would likely return to work with his old boss Michael Gove.

Mr Newman may be embroiled in the partygate scandal himself, after reports suggested he had allegedly attended a party in the flat shared by Mr and Mrs Johnson during Covid measures. 

As the PM’s new Chief of Staff, No.10 said Mr Barclay will be ‘in charge of integrating the new Office of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Office, driving the Government’s agenda more efficiently and ensuring it is better aligned with the Cabinet and backbenchers.’   

Cardiff-born Mr Harri has held several top communications roles in the past and was the PM’s spokesman and chief of staff during his first term as London mayor.

Last July, he was publicly reprimanded by GB News executives and forced out after taking the knee in solidarity with black England football stars who received racist abuse after the Euros final.

Mr Johnson said: ‘This week I promised change, so that we can get on with the job the British public elected us to do.  

‘We need to continue our recovery from the pandemic, help hundreds of thousands more people into work, and deliver our ambitious agenda to level up the entire country, improving people’s opportunities regardless of where they’re from. 

‘The changes I’m announcing to my senior team today will improve how No 10 operates, strengthen the role of my Cabinet and backbench colleagues, and accelerate our defining mission to level up the country.’

More announcements are expected in the coming days with what No 10 said would be a ‘particular focus on improving engagement and liaison with MPs’.

The changes came too late for some MPs, however, as 15 Tories have now publicly called for Mr Johnson to resign, with the number expected to be more in private.

Wimbledon MP Stephen Hammond was asked on BBC Radio 4 whether it was ‘the beginning of the end’ for the PM, and he said: ‘It certainly looks like that at the moment.’

On Friday, former minister Nick Gibb became the latest Conservative who said Mr Johnson had to be replaced.

Writing in The Telegraph, Mr Gibb, MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, said his constituents were ‘furious about the double standards’ and he said the Prime Minister had been ‘inaccurate’ in statements to the Commons.

He said: ‘The Prime Minister accepted the resignation of Allegra Stratton for joking about a Christmas party that she hadn’t attended, but he won’t take responsibility for those that he did attend. I am sorry to say that it is hard to see how it can be the case that the Prime Minister told the truth.’ 

The MP said: ‘To restore trust, we need to change the Prime Minister.’ 

It comes as Tory MPs today warned of a blitz of ‘deeply unpleasant’ attacks on Carrie Johnson after Nadine Dorries gave a car crash interview backing the embattled Prime Minister.

Boris Johnson’s political opponents are said to be preparing a ‘brutal briefing campaign’ to discredit his wife in a bid to topple his premiership at the end of a tumultuous week.

One Tory source told The Sun last night: ‘Carrie has been the target of an increasingly brutal briefing campaign to discredit her. It is deeply unpleasant.’ 

Mr Johnson’s allies are reportedly furious that his wife will become the principal target for rebels. One explained: ‘Going for his family is a new low.’ 

Another Johnson ally added: ‘Attacking the PM is fair enough, but going for his family is a new low.’

Mrs Johnson’s growing influence in Whitehall has become a central talking point in a bombshell biography published by Tory peer Lord Ashcroft and revealed in The Mail On Sunday.

The explosive book will portray Mr Johnson as little more than the puppet of his wife Carrie who enrages his advisers by allowing his wife to influence policies and appointments.  

The developments come after the Culture Secretary gave a toe-curlingly awkward televised interview on the BBC this morning in which she refused to answer questions on the PM, mixed up two backbench Tory MPs and said wider Partygate criticism was a Remainer plot. 

Speaking on BBC Breakfast on Saturday morning, Ms Dorries said the PM remained optimistic and his mood was ‘very positive’ despite a slew of his senior advisors abandoning the Government ship earlier this week. 

But the 64-year-old clashed with host Charlie Stayt as she openly questioned why she was being asked if she had recently spoken with the Prime Minister.

Mr Stayt repeatedly asked if she had spoken with Mr Johnson over the last 24 hours – to which she replied: ‘Why are you asking me that question?’ She briefly smiles at the veteran broadcaster before adding: ‘We’ve communicated’.

After an excruciating pause, a puzzled Mr Stayt then says: ‘I’m really confused. Is that a difficult question? I’m just asking if you’ve spoken to the Prime Minister’.

Ms Dorries then repeats ‘we have communicated’, before refusing to expand on her original remarks when pressed further. 

This week, the PM was rocked by the dramatic resignation of his long-serving policy chief Munira Mirza, one of the last aides remaining from his days as London mayor at City Hall. 

And Met Police officers investigating the Partygate scandal have reportedly been handed a photo of the premier holding a can of Estrella at his June 2020 surprise cake gathering.

Mr Johnson is desperately trying to see off the growing threat of brewing Tory civil war, as more than a dozen Conservative MPs have written no confidence letters and called on him to stand down.

Fresh storm clouds circle over Downing Street amid the Partygate scandal as:

An explosive book by Lord Ashcroft presents Boris Johnson as a weak Prime Minister who enrages his advisers by allowing his wife to influence policies and appointment;Sajid Javid sides with Rishi Sunak by going out of his way to praise the Labour leader, saying he had done a ‘good job’ when he was director of public prosecutions;Police officers investigating the Partygate scandal are reportedly handed a photo of Boris Johnson holding a can of Estrella at his lockdown birthday party in June 2020;The PM is apparently told to sack Rishi Sunak after the Chancellor publicly rebuked him over his claim that Sir Keir Starmer failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile;Dehenna Davison, who represents a former Red Wall Labour seat and was linked to the Pork Pie Plot against Boris Johnson, moves in with a married diplomat as ministers are told of their affair;Lord Michael Grade, the former head of the BBC, says the corporation is right to hold the government to account but that its ‘macho culture’ was ‘unnecessary’ in covering the Partygate scandal.

Saturday marked a whirlwind morning of media interviews for the Culture Secretary, who faced criticism for her ‘car crash’ BBC Breakfast interview, suggested a Remainer plot was contributing to the Tory Party’s internal strife and mixed up two Conservative MPs with similar names.

In later comments, Ms Dorries added the premier always tells the truth ‘to the best of his knowledge’, and pointed at information given to him by advisors and aides.

Meanwhile, she suggested those criticising the PM over Partygate were ‘ardent supporters of Remain’ who saw this as their last chance to reverse Brexit. 

Ms Dorries has asserted herself as one of Mr Johnson’s most outspoken public defenders in recent months since she became a cabinet member in September.

She has frequently used Twitter and media interviews to shoot to the defence of the embattled PM, calling out Tory MPs who have publicly declared their intent to submit letters of no-confidence.  

After surviving the brunt of Partygate criticism following Sue Gray’s report, Mr Johnson’s premiership was rocked further after his long-standing policy chief Munira Mirza quit on Thursday over his refusal to apologise for his explosive claim that Sir Keir Starmer failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile.

In her resignation letter, Ms Mirza said she had demanded Mr Johnson publicly retract his comments, as disillusioned Tory backbenchers pressed ahead with a brewing Tory civil war.  

The remarks, made to Sir Keir during angry Commons exchanges this week, have also faced noisy criticism from moderate Tory MPs already wobbly about the PM’s future. 

But Mr Johnson’s survival battle is set to be dealt another blow by the publication of a biography portraying him as little more than the puppet of his wife Carrie.

The explosive book by Lord Ashcroft presents him as a weak Prime Minister who enrages his advisers by allowing his wife to influence policies and appointments.

Ashcroft did also refer to Carrie’s ‘courage and determination’, however, as evidenced in her role ensuring sex-offender Warboys stayed behind bars, speaking openly of her own experience of a 2021 miscarriage and her work for animal protection, saying the complaints against her are about use of power without electoral accountability. 

The Tory peer claims Mr Johnson, 57, is ‘completely mesmerised’ by his 33-year-old wife and cuts a ‘lonely’ figure surrounded by her close friends who are now among his most influential aides.

The biography of Mrs Johnson advances the theory that faultlines in her relationship with the Prime Minister have had an impact on No 10, with one source describing it as ‘a Greek tragedy’.

Ms Dorries said those speaking out against the PM were ‘the same names that we continually keep (hearing) cropping up’ and were in ‘safe seats’. 

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, the Culture Secretary said Boris Johnson tells the truth ‘to the best of his knowledge’ based on advice given to him by aides. 

But she said: ‘What I would say is that the Prime Minister, when he appeared for the (19)22 Committee last week, promised to change and I think anybody who picks up a newspaper or reads a newspaper, sees a television news bulletin, can see that a huge amount of change is under way at present, particularly in No 10.’ 

Later, in comments to Sky News, Ms Dorries claimed that 97 per cent of Tory MPs remain behind the besieged PM and insisted those plotting to oust Mr Johnson were in the ‘absolute minority’.

Those watching on this morning quickly took to Twitter to react to Ms Dorries’ comments as some lambasted her ‘unnecessarily aggressive’ answers. 

@HalyconNash wrote: ‘Unnecessarily aggressive and defensive answers from Nadine Dorries as per on BBC Breakfast.’

Richard Allen tweeted: ‘Well that was an awkward interview with @NadineDorries, not so much with Charlie’s questioning but with some guilty like reactions to them, refusal to answering them is a bit like the ‘No Comment’ in police interviews.’

Michael Davies added: ‘Can’t believe I’m saying this but I am sorry that I missed the Nadine Dorries interview.’ 

Andy Dobson joked: ‘Nadine Dorries’ insurance premiums must have skyrocketed this month with all the car crashes she’s been involved in.’ 

The Culture Secretary also mixed up two Tory MPs with similar names while defending Mr Johnson during her round of media interviews on Saturday morning.  

Ms Dorries told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that dissenting comments from Nick Gibb and Aaron Bell were ‘disappointing’ but said those in ‘marginal seats’ knew the PM had won them the election.

She suggested those operating with slim majorities were ‘working damn hard and they want Boris Johnson in place’. 

She was then asked about the 2019 intake on Red Wall MPs – of which Mr Bell is one in his Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency.

But the Culture Secretary said: ‘So you want to cite Aaron Bell, again disappointing, I’ll talk about Martin Vickers, who’s up in the far North of England in South Tees.

‘I’ll talk about Martin Vickers who is out there supporting the Prime Minister, listing on Channel 4 News the other night the huge number of funding and initiatives that he’s delivered in his constituency.’

Martin Vickers is the MP for Cleethorpes in North East Lincolnshire and has been an MP since 2010. He currently has a majority of 21,418.

But, she was likely referring to Matt Vickers, who is MP for Stockton South (majority 5,260), in the Tees Valley, and was elected in 2019. 

He told Channel 4 on Wednesday: ‘Teesside’s got a lot to be happy about.’

Former Tory minister Nick Gibb became the 15th MP to publicly call for Mr Johnson’s resignation after he said the Prime Minister had not been truthful in his explanations of parties reportedly held in No 10 and across Whitehall during Covid measures. 

Tory MPs are expected to consider over the weekend whether to write to the chairman of the 1922 Committee Sir Graham in an attempt to force a leadership contest.

In an apparent move to head off further rebels, Mr Johnson has written to Tory MPs promising them a greater role in policymaking with a ‘direct line’ into No 10.

But Ms Dorries told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that dissenting comments from Nick Gibb and Aaron Bell were ‘disappointing’ but said those in ‘marginal seats’ knew the PM had won them the election.

She suggested those operating with slim majorities were ‘working damn hard and they want Boris Johnson in place’. 

She was then asked about the 2019 intake on Red Wall MPs – of which Mr Bell is one in his Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency.

But the Culture Secretary said: ‘So you want to cite Aaron Bell, again disappointing, I’ll talk about Martin Vickers, who’s up in the far North of England in South Tees.

‘I’ll talk about Martin Vickers who is out there supporting the Prime Minister, listing on Channel 4 News the other night the huge number of funding and initiatives that he’s delivered in his constituency.’

Martin Vickers is the MP for Cleethorpes in North East Lincolnshire and has been an MP since 2010. He currently has a majority of 21,418.

But, she was likely referring to Matt Vickers, who is MP for Stockton South (majority 5,260), in the Tees Valley, and was elected in 2019. 

He told Channel 4 on Wednesday: ‘Teesside’s got a lot to be happy about.’

Ms Dorries later suggested those who were against the Prime Minister were Remainers who wanted to get back at the PM for his role during Brexit.

She told Times Radio: ‘There are a small number of voices, whether they are people who were ardent supporters of Remain, who see this as their last opportunity to reverse Brexit.’

Asked whether the moves against Boris Johnson were a ‘Remainer plot’, Ms Dorries said: ‘There are a number of reasons actually, it’s not just one, but that certainly is at play with a group.’

She later said it was ‘important that people don’t get hung up’ on a ‘small number’ of MPs. 

But her claims were rubbished by veteran Tory MP for Wimbledon Stephen Hammond, who told Radio 4 that it was ‘complete nonsense’. 

He told This Week in Westminster: ‘It’s predictable rubbish from a predictable source.

‘I know of no coordinated plot and I think if I were in the whip’s office that would worry me even more.’  

He said he had not yet put a letter into Sir Graham Brady, but he said: ‘I think I’m making it very clear to you that I am considering very carefully over the weekend, what are the next steps.’

Mr Hammond added: ‘I think all Conservative colleagues, all of whom I know, are in it for trying to do the best for their constituents, and the country will be wrestling with their consciences this weekend.

‘I’ve known Boris Johnson… I was on his campaign committee in 2008 and 2012, when he was running for Mayor of London, I’ve known Boris for all that time. 

‘I think the idea that I’ve always been against him is just nonsense.

‘If you look at where the letters are coming from, I don’t understand how anyone could stand up that claim, and so I think probably the Secretary of State needs to think again.’

Asked whether it was ‘the beginning of the end’ for the PM, he said: ‘It certainly looks like that at the moment. It looks very difficult for the Prime Minister from here.’

Reacting to claims made about the number of people in work, Ms Dorries said on Saturday: ‘He will have been given by advisers and researchers the fact that there were more people in work than there were at the beginning of the pandemic, not on the payroll.

‘So did he tell the truth when he quoted that? Yes, he told the truth as it was given to him. The Prime Minister does tell the truth.’

‘I can personally tell you that the Prime Minister, when he stands at the despatch box and makes quotes like the one you just quoted, is because the researchers and his advisers will have given him that quote, and that’s… and he was truthful, to the best of his knowledge, when he made that quote,’ she said. 

And the Culture Secretary later said Rishi Sunak was ‘entitled to his views’ over the Prime Minister’s claim about Sir Keir Starmer and Jimmy Savile – despite some internal calls for the PM to sack the Chancellor over his ‘wavering’ support. 

Ms Dorries told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that ‘anybody who leads an organisation, like the Prime Minister leads the Government or Keir Starmer led the Crown Prosecution Service, when something goes wrong, you take responsibility and you apologise’.

Asked about the Chancellor saying he would not have made the comments, Ms Dorries said: ‘Rishi Sunak is entitled to his views and you know, he’s entitled to say… make any comments that he wants to.

‘What I would say is that when you lead an organisation, you are responsible, the responsibility lands on your desk for what happens within that organisation when you’re leading it.’

It comes days after Ms Dorries faced a wave of online memes and mockery as a picture showed what appeared to be her staring into Mr Johnson’s eyes.

The Culture Secretary was snapped staring at the premier by cameras in the House of Commons while Mr Johnson spoke at the despatch box at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.  

The picture soon went viral and sparked hundreds of memes on Twitter, with envious online users saying they wished their partners looked at them the same way Ms Dorries had gazed at Mr Johnson. 

Some questioned whether it was a ‘look of love’, while others quipped that Valentine’s Day is still more than a week away. 

Now Sajid Javid distances himself from Boris: Health Secretary says Keir Starmer deserves ‘absolute respect’ after the PM claimed the Labour leader failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile 

By Jacob Thorburn for MailOnline and John Stevens, Deputy Political Editor for the Daily Mail  

Sajid Javid sided with Rishi Sunak last night as he distanced himself from Boris Johnson‘s explosive claim that Sir Keir Starmer failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile.

In a fresh blow to the Prime Minister, the Health Secretary went out of his way to praise the Labour leader, saying he had done a ‘good job’ when he was director of public prosecutions.

In a marked contrast to the Prime Minister’s criticisms, Mr Javid said Sir Keir deserved ‘absolute respect’ for his work in the post when speaking to Sky News. 

His comments yesterday came after the Chancellor took the extraordinary step of rebuking Mr Johnson for claiming his opponent was responsible for not prosecuting Savile.

Speaking at a Downing Street press conference on Thursday, Mr Sunak said: ‘Being honest, I wouldn’t have said it.’ 

Mr Johnson’s premiership was rocked further after his long-standing policy chief Munira Mirza quit on Thursday over his refusal to apologise.

In her resignation letter, Ms Mirza said she had demanded Mr Johnson publicly retract his comments, as disillusioned Tory backbenchers pressed ahead with a brewing Tory civil war.  

The remarks, made to Sir Keir during angry Commons exchanges this week, have also faced noisy criticism from moderate Tory MPs already wobbly about the PM’s future.  

After delivering a speech in London yesterday, Mr Javid told reporters: ‘Keir Starmer, when he was running the DPP, did a good job and he should be respected for it, it is a tough job and he deserved absolute respect for that.

‘But the Prime Minister has also come out and clarified those remarks, and that is important.’

Asked if the Prime Minister still had his support, Mr Javid said: ‘Of course he does. Absolutely.’

The disagreement between Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak has fuelled speculation the Chancellor wants to replace the PM in No10.

According to the Times, the Cabinet descended into civil war as one member called for the Prime Minister to sack Mr Sunak while two others accused him of being ‘on manoeuvres’, evidenced by his public criticism of the Prime Minister. 

In an interview with the BBC on Thursday, Mr Sunak declined to answer three times whether he had ambitions to be the next Tory leader.

But Downing Street yesterday sought to play down tensions by insisting the pair’s relationship is still ‘good’.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘I don’t know when they last spoke, they speak almost daily, but I don’t know the exact last time.’

Asked how relations are between No 10 and No 11, he said: ‘Good – they agreed to a cost-of-living package that the Chancellor set out yesterday.’

But one cabinet minister told The Times: ‘He who wields the knife never wears the crown. It’s just so blatant.

‘Once the May elections are out the way there will be a reshuffle. Sunak has to go. I don’t see how he [Johnson] can keep someone who is so openly on manoeuvres.’

Another said: ‘I think very highly of Rishi but there are people around him who are not giving him good advice.

‘They’re encouraging him to stir things up — it isn’t helping him with the backbenches. Liz [Truss, the foreign secretary] has played a much smarter game for the day when the leadership contest comes along. He’s not wielding a knife, it’s a penknife.’ 

It is thought that as many as 15 MPs have publicly written letters of no confidence, but the actual number is thought to be far higher because most do not make their actions known.

The latest MP to call on Boris to resign is former minister Nick Gibb who said the Prime Minister had not been truthful in his explanations of parties reportedly held in No 10 and across Whitehall during Covid measures. 

Earlier, Huw Merriman, Conservative chairman of the Transport Select Committee, backed Mr Sunak’s decision to distance himself from Mr Johnson’s comments.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘The Chancellor was right to say that those wouldn’t have been the words that he would use and I absolutely agree with that.’

But appearing on the same programme, energy minister Greg Hands refused to say whether Mr Johnson was right to make the accusation about Sir Keir.

‘It is not my job to opine on these things. I am the energy minister,’ he said.

‘These are very serious matters in terms of child sexual abuse and what happened through the course of the Jimmy Savile events and the inquiry and so on.

‘My job is the energy minister, that is a big job. In politics you don’t have to have an opinion on everything.’

In the Commons on Monday, the PM told MPs that as director of public prosecutions Sir Keir had ‘spent most of his time prosecuting journalists and failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile’.

He sought to ‘clarify’ his remark on Thursday, telling reporters: ‘Let’s be absolutely clear, I’m talking not about the Leader of the Opposition’s personal record when he was DPP and I totally understand that he had nothing to do personally with those decisions.

‘I was making a point about his responsibility for the organisation as a whole.’ 

During Sir Keir’s tenure as director of public prosecutions from 2008 to 2013, the police sought advice from the CPS on four allegations that Savile had sexually assaulted girls and young women in the 1970s.

In October 2009, the CPS reviewing lawyer with responsibility for the cases advised that since none of the complainants was ‘prepared to support any police action’, no prosecutions could be brought.

There is no evidence that Sir Keir was involved in the decisions.

Sir Keir issued an apology on behalf of the CPS in January 2013 following a review. ‘I would like to take the opportunity to apologise for the shortcomings in the part played by the CPS in these cases,’ he said in a statement. 

He announced that new guidance on how child sexual abuse cases should be handled would be drawn up.

Savile died in 2011 aged 84 having never been brought to justice for his crimes. He is now believed to be one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders.

Boris Johnson is told to SACK ‘openly manoeuvring’ Rishi Sunak after Chancellor rebuked him for Jimmy Saville comments – as ex-minister becomes 15th Tory MP to publicly call on PM to resign over Partygate row

By Katie Feehan for MailOnline 

Boris Johnson has reportedly been told to sack Rishi Sunak after the Chancellor publicly rebuked the Prime Minister over his claim that Sir Keir Starmer failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile.

Mr Johnson is desperately trying to see off the growing threat of a vote of no confidence, as more than a dozen Tory MPs have now written no confidence letters.

It is thought that as many as 15 members have publicly written letters while the actual number is thought to be far higher because most do not make their actions known.

The latest MP to call on Boris to resign is former minister Nick Gibb who said the Prime Minister had not been truthful in his explanations of parties reportedly held in No 10 and across Whitehall during Covid measures. 

Downing Street also suffered a day of chaos on Thursday as four of Mr Johnson’s most senior aides opted to resign including the shock resignation of one of his closest allies, policy chief Munira Mirza. 

According to the Times, the Cabinet descended into civil war as one member called for the Prime Minister to sack Mr Sunak while two others accused him of being ‘on manoeuvres’, evidenced by his public criticism of the Prime Minister.

It comes after Mr Johnson was publicly criticised by Chancellor Rishi Sunak on Thursday over the explosive claim regarding Sir Keir’s time as DPP.

Rishi Sunak publicly rebuked the PM over the false claim that Sir Keir Starmer failed to prosecute paedophile Jimmy Savile.

Addressing the issue in a live broadcast on the cost-of-living crisis yesterday, Mr Sunak said of Mr Johnson’s attack on Sir Keir: ‘I wouldn’t have said it.’ 

Meanwhile, Health Secretary Sajid Javid yesterday became the latest minister to distance himself from the PM’s criticism of Sir Keir Starmer.

In a television interview he said the Labour leader deserved ‘absolute respect’ for the job he did as director of public prosecutions.

The comments from Mr Sunak and Mr Javid sparked a backlash in the cabinet, according to the Times.

One cabinet minister told The Times: ‘He who wields the knife never wears the crown. It’s just so blatant.

‘Once the May elections are out the way there will be a reshuffle. Sunak has to go. I don’t see how he [Johnson] can keep someone who is so openly on manoeuvres.’

Another said: ‘I think very highly of Rishi but there are people around him who are not giving him good advice.

‘They’re encouraging him to stir things up — it isn’t helping him with the backbenches. Liz [Truss, the foreign secretary] has played a much smarter game for the day when the leadership contest comes along. He’s not wielding a knife, it’s a penknife.’

The Times reports that the comments were rejected by a source close to Sunak while a source close to Javid played down the suggestion that he had rebuked the prime minister.

It comes as another Tory MP has called on Boris Johnson to resign amid reports the Prime Minister was pictured holding a beer in a photograph from his alleged restriction-busting gathering which has been handed to the police.

Former minister Nick Gibb said the time had come for the Prime Minister to go, and suggested he had not been truthful in his explanations of parties reportedly held in No 10 and across Whitehall during Covid measures.

Mr Gibb, who is reported to have submitted a no-confidence letter to Sir Graham Brady, brings the number of Tory MPs who have now publicly called for Mr Johnson to resign to 15.

Privately, the number is expected to be higher.

Writing in The Telegraph, the MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton said that the Conservative Party must face the ‘hard truths’, and added: ‘To restore trust, we need to change the Prime Minister.’

It comes as The Mirror reported that the Metropolitan Police had been handed a photograph of Mr Johnson holding a beer at an alleged gathering in June 2020 to mark the Prime Minister’s birthday.

The newspaper said it was one of the 300 photos handed to the Met in their investigation into 12 alleged gatherings that may have broken Covid restrictions.

The photo is reported to have also included Chancellor Rishi Sunak, holding a soft drink.

No 10 said it could not comment while the Met Police’s investigation was ongoing.

The Treasury was contacted for comment but Mr Sunak has previously said he was in the room for a Covid meeting.

On Friday, the beleaguered Prime Minister sought to rally Downing Street staff with a line from The Lion King, telling them ‘Change is good’ after the departure of a number of aides.

He was hit with a fifth resignation in less than 24 hours when Elena Narozanski, a special adviser in the No 10 policy unit, walked out on Friday. 

Backbencher Aaron Bell also declared publicly he had submitted a letter calling for a vote of no confidence in his leader.

In a statement, he said: ‘The breach of trust that events in No 10 Downing Street represent, and the manner in which they have been handled, makes his position untenable.’

In an emotional question in the Commons on Monday following the publication of the Sue Gray report into lockdown parties, Mr Bell asked Mr Johnson if he thought he was a ‘fool’ for following Covid restrictions at his grandmother’s funeral.

In his intervention, Mr Gibb said Mr Bell had been ‘brave’ and ‘struck a chord’.

He wrote: ‘He expressed the anger and frustration of millions at rule-breaking by those most responsible for making the rules.

‘He was not a fool for sticking by those rules. But, whether inadvertently or not, behaviour by people at the heart of government suggests that they think he was – or worse still, that the rules don’t apply to them.’

He said his constituents were ‘furious about the double standards’.

Mr Gibb said: ‘The Prime Minister accepted the resignation of Allegra Stratton for joking about a Christmas party that she hadn’t attended, but he won’t take responsibility for those that he did attend.

‘I am sorry to say that it is hard to see how it can be the case that the Prime Minister told the truth.’

Other Tory MPs are expected to consider over the weekend whether to write to the chairman of the 1922 Committee Sir Graham in an attempt to force a leadership contest.

In an apparent move to head off further dissent, Mr Johnson has written to Tory MPs promising them a greater role in policymaking with a ‘direct line’ into No 10.

The latest turmoil was triggered by the shock resignation on Thursday of Mr Johnson’s long-standing policy chief Munira Mirza over his refusal to withdraw his ‘scurrilous’ accusation about Sir Keir.

Speaking on Friday, Mr Javid indicated that he agreed with Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who said he would not have made those remarks.

‘Keir Starmer, when he was running the DPP, did a good job and he should be respected for it. It is a tough job and he deserved absolute respect for that,’ he told reporters.

Mr Javid acknowledged Mr Johnson had subsequently ‘clarified’ his comments and insisted the Prime Minister still had his full support.

However, his intervention will only fuel speculation over how much support the Prime Minister really enjoys from members of his top team.

Ms Mirza’s resignation was followed by the announcement that three more of the most senior figures in No 10 – chief of staff Dan Rosenfield, principal private secretary Martin Reynolds and director of communications Jack Doyle – were also leaving.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesperson said the departures had all been agreed before Ms Mirza tendered her resignation and that they were leaving by mutual consent.

All three were to some extent implicated in the controversy over parties during lockdown.

Mr Reynolds organised the notorious ‘bring your own booze’ event in the Downing Street garden while Mr Doyle was reportedly at at least one of the gatherings now under investigation by the police.

While Mr Rosenfield did not join until after most of the events had taken place, he has been criticised over the Government’s initial response to the report that there had been no breach of the rules.