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Just two years ago,Johnson was the darling of his party after he secured the biggest Conservative majority since Margaret Thatcher in 1987,allowing him to deliver on promises to finally steer Britain out of the European Union.

But the relationship is rapidly souring under the impact of a steady stream of revelations about Downing Street’sapparent flouting of strict lockdown rules.

To trigger a leadership challenge,54 of the 360 Conservative MPs in Parliament must write letters of no confidence to the chairman of the party’s 1922 Committee.

The letters are confidential,so the chairman is the only person who knows how many MPs have actually written them.

END OF PLAN B?

Johnson will address Parliament on Wednesday (UK time) after his cabinet is expected to approve plans to end the recent restrictions imposed to tackle the spread of COVID-19 in England.

The “Plan B” measures were introduced by the government last month as the Omicron strain spread rapidly across Britain. They included guidance to work from home where possible,masks for indoor settings and vaccine passports for mass events.

The removal of the restrictions would please many in his party who want to return to something akin to normal life as Johnson seeks to contain a rebellion triggered by the claims of rule-breaking parties.

Dominic Cummings was the high-profile,controversial top aide to Boris Johnson.Credit:AP

His political problems increased this week when Dominic Cummings,an architect of Britain’s departure from the European Union and a former senior adviser who left government under acrimonious terms in November 2020,said Johnson knew that a drinks party held in his garden would break lockdown rules.

Johnsonapologised to Parliament last week,saying he had thought it was a work event and he only attended for 25 minutes to thank staff.

A senior civil servant Sue Gray is investigating about a dozen allegations of rule-breaking by Johnson,his team and officials at 10 Downing Street or other government buildings between May 2020 and April 2021,when COVID-19 rules limited how many people could meet socially.

Gray will question Cummings about his claims,theMirror reported.

Johnson’s spokesman,Max Blain,said the Prime Minister supported the rules in the Ministerial Code “when it comes to knowingly misleading the House”.

Johnson’s political fate may rest on the word “knowingly.”

In his carefully worded apologies over the allegations,Johnson has acknowledged “misjudgments” but not admitted personal rule-breaking.

A visibly upset Johnson apologised to the Queen on Tuesday after reports staff partied late into the night in Downing Street on the eve of her husband Prince Philip’s funeral.

Even if Johnson clings on,the controversy may have caused lasting damage to his popularity. The opposition Labour Party has opened up its biggest lead over the governing Conservatives since 2013.

Cummings,an architect of the victorious 2016 referendum campaign for Britain to leave the European Union,left Downing Street in late 2020 and has become a vociferous critic of the Prime Minister he helped put in office.

Treasury chief Rishi Sunak – often cited as a potential successor to Johnson as prime minister – said he believed Johnson’s explanation. But he said that “the Ministerial Code is clear” about the consequences of misleading Parliament. Ministers who do that are expected to resign.

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab agreed that deliberately lying to Parliament was “normally ... a resigning matter.” But he dismissed Cummings’ claim that Johnson was warned about the party as “nonsense”.

Reuters,AP

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