Tory MP Nickie Aiken urges Johnson to have no-confidence vote to "end speculation" Nickie Aiken has called on Boris Johnson to submit himself to a vote of no confidence to “end speculation”, Tom Larkin of Sky News is reporting. The Tory MP told constituents that “events in Downing St during the pandemic has damaged the govt and Conservative Party”. Summary Here’s a roundup of the key development from the day: Boris Johnson is facing continued pressure from within his own party as the fallout from Partygate rumbles on and more MPs call for him to resign as prime minister. Former Tory minister Tobias Ellwood said the Conservative party stills seemed to be “in denial”. Jeremy Wright, a former culture secretary and attorney general, has become the latest Tory MP to call for Boris Johnson to resign – although his statement saying this disappeared from his website, before reappearing. In the statement, the Kenilworth and Southam MP said the saga had done “real and lasting damage to the reputation not just of this government but to the institutions and authority of government more generally”. The Conservative MP Elliot Colburn has submitted a letter calling for a vote of no confidence in the prime minister, Boris Johnson. In an email to a constituent, Colburn reportedly said: “I am especially appalled at the revelations of the poor treatment of security and cleaning staff … so my letter remains submitted.” Nickie Aiken has called on Boris Johnson to submit himself to a vote of no confidence to “end speculation”, Tom Larkin of Sky News is reporting. The Tory MP told constituents that “events in Downing St during the pandemic has damaged the govt and Conservative Party”. Downing Street has refused to deny that a social event took place in Boris Johnson’s flat during lockdown that was not considered by the Sue Gray inquiry, but officials insisted there is no need to reopen any investigations and that the matter is closed. A culture minister has said it is not “immediately obvious” that there should be an investigation into an alleged second event at No 10 hosted by the prime minister’s wife. Chris Philp was asked on Sky News about reports emerging at the weekend that Carrie Johnson had organised a couple of parties in the Downing Street flat. “Well, I think we have had an unbelievably comprehensive set of investigations going on now for a period of nearly six months,” he said. Boris Johnson is “abusing the ministerial code” by redrafting it to reduce the potential sanctions for ministers who break rules, a former member of the government’s ethical standards watchdog has said, urging Conservative MPs to challenge this. Jane Martin, who served on the committee on standards in public life for five years until December 2021, said Johnson had wrongly used a report by her committee as a spur to weaken the code. Half of Britons believe the wrong people will be held accountable for Partygate, a survey has found. The Ipsos poll, conducted after the release of Sue Gray’s report into lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street, found only 41% of people were confident the report would lead to the right people being held accountable while 50% said they were not confident. Yesterday, the Observer reported Martin Reynolds, Johnson’s former principal private secretary, who quit in February following outrage about Partygate, could be the next UK ambassador to Saudi Arabia but Paul Waugh of the i paper has now heard he instead might be lined up for a senior international trade post. This is perhaps due to the reaction people had to the idea of the man mentioned 24 times in the Sue Gray report representing the Queen as the ambassador in Riyadh. Labour has said that the take-up of the government’s flagship tutoring programme is so slow that all current secondary pupils in England will have left school by the time the Conservatives finally deliver on their education catch-up promises. At the rate of delivery for this academic year, Labour says that figure will not be reached for at least five and a half years, by which time all pupils currently in secondary school will have completed year 11 and moved on. Stormont parties have urged the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) to back the election of a new speaker as the assembly was recalled on Monday. The Sinn Féin vice-president, Michelle O’Neill, told MLAs that people in Northern Ireland wanted action, not protest. Thanks so much for joining me today. I’ll be back again tomorrow. Tory MP Nickie Aiken urges Johnson to have no-confidence vote to "end speculation" Nickie Aiken has called on Boris Johnson to submit himself to a vote of no confidence to “end speculation”, Tom Larkin of Sky News is reporting. The Tory MP told constituents that “events in Downing St during the pandemic has damaged the govt and Conservative Party”. Paul Waugh, the i paper’s chief political commentator, has this on Martin Reynolds, Johnson’s former principal private secretary, who quit in February following outrage about Partygate. Yesterday, the Observer reported “Party Marty” could be the next UK ambassador to Saudi Arabia but Waugh has now heard he instead might be lined up for a senior international trade post. This is perhaps due to the reaction people had to the idea of the man mentioned 24 times in the Sue Gray report representing the Queen as the ambassador in Riyadh. Waugh writes in his latest column: The man who was dubbed “Party Marty” for his “bring your own booze” invitation to a No 10 garden party saw his reputation further trashed after Gray’s final report revealed he had messaged that Downing Street had “got away with” one particular drinks event. Reynolds went back to the Foreign Office in February and has since been touted as the next UK ambassador to Saudi Arabia, so has he “got away with” Partygate more broadly? Well, I’m told that he is in fact being lined up by Johnson for a senior international trade post. If the ambassador role is seen as too embarrassing a reward for failure, the alternative trade job would suggest Johnson really does want to ease the pain for at least some of those who supported him. One source claimed that International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan opposed the proposed appointment and was overruled by No 10, but I understand the minister was not upset at all. If Reynolds does indeed get a new job, it appears he’ll have the full support of the Government. Johnson certainly has a history of trying to help out those who remain loyal to him. Despite Kit Malthouse and James Cleverly (both former deputies of his at City Hall) initially deciding to stand for Tory leadership against him in 2019, they soon joined his campaign team. Both now have key ministerial posts. The recruitment for a new director general of the National Crime Agency has been re-opened, with former Met Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe apparently the Prime Minister’s favourite. Today, No 10 failed to deny Johnson had intervened, saying only “the Prime Minister has no formal role in this process… a fair and open recruitment campaign is underway.” With a reshuffle pencilled into many Whitehall diaries for the end of June, after the expected double loss of the Tiverton and Wakefield by-elections, Johnson is expected once more to show what MPs call “misplaced loyalty” by sacking-not-sacking some key figures (moving Priti Patel from Home Office to party chair would surprise few). Labour has said that the take-up of the government’s flagship tutoring programme is so slow that all current secondary pupils in England will have left school by the time the Conservatives finally deliver on their education catch-up promises. The analysis follows the prime minister’s pledge from last summer that there would be 100m hours of small-group tutoring over a three-year period to help pupils in England who have fallen behind in their learning due to the disruption caused by the pandemic. However, according to analysis by Labour the figure would not be reached for at least five years, by which time all pupils currently in secondary school will have completed year 11 and moved on. The conservative MP Elliot Colburn has submitted a letter calling for a vote of no confidence in the prime minister, Boris Johnson. 26 MPs have now called for the PM to stand down. In an email to a constituent, Colburn reportedly said: “I am especially appalled at the revelations of the poor treatment of security and cleaning staff … so my letter remains submitted.” The Welsh government has said is to press ahead with plans to increase the number of Senedd members, despite opposition from senior Conservatives. PA reports: The reforms, proposed by Labour and Plaid Cymru as part of a cooperation agreement, would see the number of members increase from 60 to 96. Currently the Senedd remains smaller than its other devolved counterparts, with the Scottish parliament having 129 members and the Northern Ireland assembly having 90. A Senedd committee has backed the changes, saying a strengthened parliament would result in more powerful scrutiny of government and better representation of people in Wales. Welsh Tories have called for the expansion plan to be put to a referendum, with party leader Andrew RT Davies calling it a “waste of both time and money”. Stormont parties have urged the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) to back the election of a new speaker as the assembly was recalled on Monday. The Sinn Féin vice-president, Michelle O’Neill, told MLAs that people in Northern Ireland wanted action, not protest. But the DUP MLA Paul Givan said the recall by Sinn Féin of the Stormont assembly was not a serious attempt to restore power sharing, telling MLAs: Today’s recall is another attempt at majority rule and has no credibility when it comes forward from the party that kept these institutions down for three years. Sinn Féin proposed a recall last week, supported by Alliance and the Social Democratic and Labour party (SDLP). But a new speaker and the first and deputy first ministers cannot be installed without the DUP’s support. It has said it wants “action” first on the Northern Ireland protocol and has dismissed Sinn Fein’s move as a “stunt”. Two MLAs, Mike Nesbitt of the Ulster Unionist party and Patsy McGlone of the SDLP, were nominated for the role of speaker. Under assembly rules, no business can take place after an election until a new speaker is elected. An attempt to do so on 13 May failed because it requires cross-community support from a majority of unionist and nationalist MLAs. O’Neill told the chamber: The people have spoken and they want action, not protest. They want the parties and every single MLA elected to this democratic institution to get their sleeves rolled up and to get down to business. The DUP’s standoff is with the public and not with the European Union. As I stand here today I am ready to work with others. Givan told the MLAs: The public will see the hypocrisy for what it is from Sinn Féin. This isn’t a serious attempt to restore the principles of power sharing and these institutions. It is a stunt. Jeremy Wright latest Tory MP to call for Boris Johnson to resign Jeremy Wright, a former culture secretary and attorney general, has become the latest Tory MP to call for Boris Johnson to resign – although his statement saying this disappeared from his website before reappearing. In the statement, the Kenilworth and Southam MP said that while he could not be sure if Johnson knowingly misled MPs in denying that lockdown-breaking parties had taken place inside Downing Street, the saga had done “real and lasting damage to the reputation not just of this government but to the institutions and authority of government more generally”. He wrote: That matters because it is sadly likely that a government will again need to ask the citizens of this country to follow rules it will be difficult to comply with and to make sacrifices which will be hard to bear, in order to serve or preserve the greater good. The collective consequences of those citizens declining to do so may again be severe. Wright ended: It now seems to me that the prime minister remaining in office will hinder those crucial objectives. I have therefore, with regret, concluded that, for the good of this and future governments, the prime minister should resign. The statement did not say whether Wright had formally submitted a letter to the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs seeking a confidence vote in Johnson, which will happen when 15% of their number do so, totalling 54. Currently, somewhere near 20 are confirmed to have done so, although others may also have. He was contacted for comment. Conservative MP Anthony Browne has confirmed he is not among those calling for the prime minister to resign. Speaking to the BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme, Browne was asked about Conservative former minister Jeremy Wright, who, in a statement on his website, called for Boris Johnson to quit. The statement returned to his official website after disappearing. It was replaced with a “page not found” message for several minutes. The statement, which said Boris Johnson should resign because of the real and lasting damage of Partygate, later reappeared. Browne said: Well, I came on to talk about economic growth. I mean, clearly, the whole parties in Number 10 has been a very painful episode. I’ve been very disappointed by it, as many other people but the government, the prime minister has got the big measures right in terms of the pandemic and in terms of the war in Ukraine, which is obviously a huge international crisis that is ongoing at the moment. On whether he is therefore not going to be among those calling for the prime minister to resign, the MP for South Cambridgeshire said: “No, but I am happy to answer questions about growth.” Downing Street has refused to deny that a further party took place in the Downing Street flat after Boris Johnson’s birthday gathering in the Cabinet Room. The Sunday Times reported at the weekend that the prime minister’s wife, Carrie Johnson, hosted a further event in the flat where she lives with her husband later that day on 19 June 2020. Asked about the report, a No 10 spokesman said Sue Gray had made clear in her terms of reference that she would look at other allegations where there were “credible” claims rules had been breached. I have seen the same reporting that you have but I think this is covered in the terms of reference in Sue Gray’s report where she clearly said that any other gatherings ... where she received credible allegations, would be looked into. Downing Street staff were given clear guidance to retain any relevant information and cooperate fully with the investigation.