Senior Tory tells Johnson he is not ‘worthy’ to be PM over Covid breach

Boris Johnson has been told to resign by a senior Conservative MP for breaking coronavirus laws after apologising and insisting he did not know he was breaching his own rules.

Former chief whip Mark Harper told Mr Johnson he is no longer “worthy” of being Prime Minister during a heated Commons debate on Tuesday as he was repeatedly told to quit.

Mr Johnson insisted he did not intentionally mislead Parliament with his earlier denials of rule-breaking parties, after MPs were granted a vote later this week on his alleged lying.

Addressing the House as it returned from its Easter recess, Mr Johnson apologised for the “mistake” that saw him fined by police over the event in No 10 for his birthday in June 2020.

“Let me also say, not by way of mitigation or excuse but purely because it explains my previous words in this House, that it did not occur to me then or subsequently that a gathering in the Cabinet Room just before a vital meeting on Covid strategy could amount to a breach of the rules,” he said.

Facing shouts of “resign”, Mr Johnson added: “I repeat that was my mistake and I apologise for it unreservedly.”

Mr Harper revealed he had submitted a letter to the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservatives calling for a no confidence vote after branding Mr Johnson’s actions “indefensible”.

The Tory told the Commons: “I strongly support the Government’s actions in standing up to Putin’s aggression and helping Ukraine defend itself and our values, and it’s exactly at times like this that our country needs a Prime Minister who exemplifies those values.

“I regret to say that we have a Prime Minister who broke the laws that he told the country they had to follow, hasn’t been straightforward about it and is now going to ask the decent men and women on these benches to defend what I think is indefensible.

“I’m very sorry to have to say this, but I no longer think he is worthy of the great office that he holds.”

A no-confidence vote in the Prime Minister is triggered if 1922 chair Sir Graham Brady has 54 letters from Tory MPs.