For his final question, Sir Keir accuses the PM of "defending the indefensible" whilst Labour has been developing a "serious plan" to help people deal with surging energy prices.

He adds that the Tories have been "too distracted by their own chaos" to come up with a plan of their own.

He calls Boris Johnson "out of touch, out of control, out of ideas and soon to be out of office".

In reply, Boris Johnson says he is "intensely proud" of the government's record, including on hospital-building, taxes and "looking after people" during the pandemic.

Pointing to the opposition benches, he hits back: "We delivered while they dithered".

Chris Mason
Political Correspondent

"If a prime minister misleads Parliament, should be resign?"

In the vast majority of situations, a prime minister would answer "yes" to this question.

The fact that Boris Johnson ducked it neatly encapsulates the mess he currently finds himself in.

Because, for all the revelations about parties, misleading the Commons is conventionally seen as something no prime minister can survive.

But Johnson says people should wait for the report by Sue Gray.

Starmer points the image of the Queen, sitting on her own at Prince Philip's funeral - while the night before No 10 staff were holding parties.

"She followed the rules," said Starmer. "Isn't he ashamed he didn't hand in his resignation?"

But the Speaker interjects, saying the Commons does not bring up the Royal Family.

And after Johnson asks the Labour leader to revoke his comments, the questions move on...

Sir Keir Starmer says the PM's criticism of his beer picture shows the operation in Downing Street to save the PM is in bigger trouble than he thought.

The Labour leader asks a short question: whether prime ministers who are found to have misled Parliament shold resign.

Again, Boris Johnson says Sir Keir's questions will be answered by Sue Gray's inquiry.

He accuses Labour's leader of "wasting people's time" with his line of questioning, and calls Sir Keir "completely irrelevant".

Image source, UK Parliament

Starmer says the PM's account of No 10 parties "gets more extraordinary with each version".

And if he was telling the truth, that would mean his staff were being untruthful, and "he alone was told it was a work meeting".

The Labour leader asks: "Does he realise how ridiculous that sounds?"

"I have said what I've said about the events in No 10," replies Mr Johnson.

But he raises a picture of Starmer drinking from a beer bottle in an office during the pandemic.

"Perhaps he could tell the house about that?"

Johnson adds: "Throughout the pandemic people across government have been working flat out to protect the british public."

Chris Mason
Political Correspondent

Lots of focus in the early exchanges at Prime Minister's Questions on Christian Wakeford - now Labour's MP for Bury South, who has just defected from the Conservatives.

Wakeford is sitting just behind Sir Keir Starmer, and wearing a Union flag facemask.

One of his fellow Greater Manchester MPs, a Conservative, whispers to my colleague Paul Twinn: "I'm not sure we'll notice the difference as a party."

The prime minister addresses the defection directly and defiantly, saying the Conservatives will win the seat again.

"Bury South is a Labour seat now," points out the Labour leader.

Prolonged cheering is continuing to disrupt proceedings in the House of Commons as the PM finishes his repsonse.

Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle says: "I don't want this continous chant.

"If we do there will be less people on these benches and the same on the other side.

"I expect both sides to be heard with courtesy."

Image source, UK Parliament

Before beginning his questioning, Sir Keir Starmer offers a "warm welcome" to his newest MP, Christian Wakeford, who is sat squarely behind him.

Turning to the PM, he says Johnson provides "absurd and unreliable defences" over the No 10 parties that continue to "unravel".

He asks: "Since the prime minister wrote the rules, why does he think this new defence will work for him?"

Johnson appeals to people to wait for the outcome of Sue Gray's inquiry and renews his apology.

But he says if the government had listened to Starmer about Covid rules, the country would still be in lockdown.

He also claims his judgements have led to fastest growing recovery in the G7.

As for Bury South, says Johnson, "the Conservative Party won Bury South for the first time in generations under this prime minister... and we will win again in Bury South at the next election."

The House is particularly rowdy today with so much cheering when Leader of the Opposition Sir Keir Starmer steps up that he sits down while The Speaker repeatedly calls for some calm.

Starmer quips: "I'm sure the Chief Whip has told them to bring their own booze."

Wendy Chamberlain is the first MP to ask a question in the Commons.

The Liberal Democrat talks about the Downing Street drinks party in May 2020, which Boris Johnson said he believed was a work event.

"Does the prime minister agree that it's now time for him to resign?," she asks.

In reply, Boris Johnson says no, she must "contain her impatience before making any conclusions" and wait for Sue Gray's report into the parties. He says it is expected next week.

Now Labour leader Keir Starmer stands up to put his first question to the prime minister.

Image source, Parliament TV

There was a dramatic moment ahead of PMQs, as Bury South MP Christian Wakeford – who has just announced his defection from the Tories to Labour – arrived in the chamber and walked across the floor of the House of Commons to join his new colleagues, amid cheers from the opposition benches.

The Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, rises from his chair to announce the beginning of Prime Minister’s Questions.

Stick with us as we report the action.

Image source, PA Media

As MPs debate Boris Johnson’s political future, it’s worth remembering that there are only two ways a Conservative prime minister can be replaced.

The first is simple: they resign as prime minister and leader of the Conservative Party.

The second way is slightly more complicated. It involves Conservative MPs formally expressing no confidence in the prime minister to their party’s parliamentary group, the 1922 Committee.

A leadership contest is triggered once 54 MPs have sent letters of no confidence to the chairman of the committee, Sir Graham Brady.

A leader who loses a vote is banned from taking part in the subsequent contest to replace them, which takes place in two stages:

• Conservative MPs put themselves forward as candidates, with their colleagues voting in a series of rounds until two remain
• The final pair are then put to head-to-head vote of Conservative Party members

Labour’s leader Sir Keir Starmer says he welcomes the decision of Christian Wakeford to join the party, after he dramatically defected from the Conservatives minutes before Prime Minister's Questions.

"He has always put the people of Bury South first," he said in a statement.

Sir Keir says the "Conservative government are doing nothing to help the people of Bury South and indeed are only making the struggles they face on a daily basis worse".

“People across Britain faces a cost of living crisis but this incompetent Tory government is asleep at the wheel, distracted by a chaos of its own making," Sir Keir says.

The government is yet to comment on Wakeford's defection.

Just as the news breaks about one of his MPs jumping ship, Boris Johnson is pictured leaving No 10 for Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons.

The session begins at midday - say with us for what's said.

One of the 2019 intake of Tory MPs has walked out of the party to join the Labour benches.

Christian Wakeford, who took the red wall seat of Bury South in the last election, had already called for Boris Johnson to go, revealing he had put in a letter of no confidence last week.

But he has now quit the party and joined Labour.

Nick Watt
Political editor, BBC Newsnight

The big change in recent days for the prime minister has been the loss of faith of the 107-strong 2019 intake of MPs, the largest grouping in the Conservative parliamentary party. Many come from ex-Labour red wall seats.

One MP said of the 2019-ers: “They are so angry. They invested so much faith in Boris Johnson. They are like a jilted lover.”

One cabinet minister blamed Covid for the behaviour of the new intake. This minister said that Covid restrictions, which have kept many MPs away from Westminster for large chunks of the last two years, meant they had not been properly “socialised”.

The minister added: “They don’t seem to understand that politics is really, really hard at times.”

Supporters of Boris Johnson are adamant he will survive. One minister told me:

Prime Minister's Questions is due to start in Parliament in less than half an hour.

Boris Johnson will be grilled by MPs after facing calls to resign over parties held at Downing Street when Covid rules applied.

The session will get under way at about 12:00 GMT in the House of Commons.

It will present Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and other MPs with another opportunity to ask Johnson what he knew about staff events at No 10, and when.

Expect a raucous affair, with testy exchanges.

Image source, PA Media

Boris Johnson is facing a bumpy day after a group of Conservative MPs who won seats in traditional Labour heartlands in 2019 reportedly launched a plot to remove him from Downing Street.

But what do we know about these MPs? Most of them represent so-called “red wall” seats - areas in the Midlands and northern England where the Labour Party traditionally enjoyed strong support until the 2019 general election.

A meeting of these MPs has been dubbed the “pork pie plot” because it was hosted by the MP for Melton, Alicia Kearns.

Why pork pies, you ask? Because Kearns represents Rutland and Melton, the home of Melton Mowbray pies. She was elected in the 2019 general election with a majority of 26,924 votes.

There is speculation that she could bid for the leadership, but colleagues of Kearns deny that she is leading a rebellion.

Bishop Auckland MP Dehenna Davison has also been named as a plotter by the Daily Mail. The Conservative MP’s seat had been held by Labour since the 1930s.

A third name in the mix is Bury South MP, Christian Wakeford. He made headlines in November last year when he admitted swearing at fellow Tory MP Owen Paterson at the height of a row over parliamentary standards.

Conservative Chris Loder is also among the new Tory MPs allegedly plotting.

"I want to make sure that decency, honour and integrity are returned to the heart of government and I think that would be a good shared objective, rather than the distraction of briefing out about rebellion ringleaders," the West Dorset MP said.

Image source, Getty Images

Pete Saull
Political Correspondent, BBC Westminster

Having been over to Portcullis House this morning - the building that holds many of the MPs' private offices - I'm hearing wildly different things from different people.

"Strap in", one former minister told me, describing Prime Minister's Questions this lunchtime as "critical."

"It all feels like it's falling apart, " he adds.

There's plenty of ire, too, for the government whips - the MPs set with enforcing the party line in the Commons.

One former cabinet minister said the PM's foot soldiers had "lost control", while another senior Tory said that yesterday's briefing against concerned MPs from the 2019 intake had backfired.

Many Tories are still waiting for the Sue Gray investigation into the various different gatherings before deciding how to act.

But one of the MPs who has already written to the chair of the 1922 committee told me there'd be an "avalanche" of letters from his colleagues today.

There's only one person who really knows how close a confidence vote is though - the chair of the 1922 committee, Sir Graham Brady.