Summary

  • Boris Johnson faced Prime Minister's Questions - a day after apologising in Parliament for breaking lockdown laws

  • Labour's leader and other opposition MPs continue to push the PM on the fine he received

  • The prime minister insists he is focused on dealing with "serious problems that require attention"

  • Labour has described Johnson's apology as a joke and is calling for further action

  • Johnson been rallying support among Tory MPs - ahead of vote on whether claims he misled Parliament should be investigated by a committee

  • Under government rules, ministers who knowingly mislead Parliament, which the PM denies doing, are expected to resign

  1. Starmer: Why did Allegra Stratton resign?published at 12:06 British Summer Time 20 April 2022

    Sir KeirImage source, HoC

    Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer uses his first question to ask why the PM's press secretary had to resign from her job.

    Allegra Stratton stood down after a video emerged of her joking about parties in Downing Street during lockdown.

    Boris Johnson says he "bitterly regrets" her resignation and praises her work on COP 26.

  2. PM opens with birthday wishes to the Queenpublished at 12:05 British Summer Time 20 April 2022

    Boris JohnsonImage source, HoC

    Boris Johnson says to a packed house that he wishes the Queen a happy birthday for tomorrow, before outlining his trip to India.

    There, he'll meet Prime Minister Modi in Delhi.

  3. PMQs startspublished at 12:01 British Summer Time 20 April 2022

    Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle is now on his feet to announce the beginning of Prime Minister's Questions.

    Stick with us for all the updates from today's session.

  4. Church of England responds to PM's commentspublished at 12:00 British Summer Time 20 April 2022

    Justin WelbyImage source, PA

    Elsewhere in Westminster a row is brewing between Downing Street and the Church of England.

    On Tuesday evening, the prime minister is reported to have suggested senior clergymen had been less vociferous in their condemnation of Vladimir Putin than of the government's immigration policy.

    A Downing Street source has confirmed Mr Johnson told Conservative MPs the government's plan to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda had been "misconstrued" by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the BBC.

    In response, a spokesman for the church said: "The archbishops of Canterbury and York have condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine as an act of great evil and spoken out repeatedly against it."

    He also said the two men were "gravely concerned by proposals to send migrants overseas" and would "continue to speak out against these plans on moral and ethical grounds".

  5. PM heads to Parliamentpublished at 11:56 British Summer Time 20 April 2022

    Boris JohnsonImage source, Reuters
    Image caption,

    Here is Boris Johnson leaving No 10 Downing Street a few moments ago...

  6. Analysis

    PM will be hoping to move narrative onpublished at 11:55 British Summer Time 20 April 2022

    David Wallace Lockhart
    BBC Scotland political reporter

    After a bruising session in the Commons yesterday, spent apologising after receiving a fixed penalty notice, Boris Johnson will hope to move the narrative on.

    Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer may well decide that there are issues aside from partygate to quiz the PM on this afternoon.

    We can expect opposition calls for Boris Johnson to go in this session.

    That’s nothing new.

    It will be the comments, and the behaviour, of his own backbenchers that will provide the best indication of how secure his position is.

  7. And what's coming up tomorrow?published at 11:47 British Summer Time 20 April 2022

    On Thursday, MPs will vote on a Labour motion on whether a Commons committee should investigate the prime minister for misleading Parliament.

    In its motion, Labour argues that the prime minister's words to the Commons "appear to amount to misleading the House" and says the privileges committee should consider whether his conduct amounts to "contempt of the House".

    However, it says the inquiry should not begin until the investigation by the police has been concluded.

    If MPs vote for an inquiry, the privileges committee - made up of seven MPs - could recommend sanctions, including an apology, a suspension or even expulsion from the Commons.

    But the move is unlikely to succeed because the majority of Conservative MPs are likely to be ordered to vote against the Labour motion.

  8. What happened in the Commons yesterday?published at 11:43 British Summer Time 20 April 2022

    ParliamentImage source, PA Media

    Today will be the second time Boris Johnson has appeared in Parliament since the police fined him for breaking Covid laws.

    Yesterday he apologised 35 times for what he called his “mistake”.

    He said he had not realised he was breaking the rules when he attended a birthday gathering in Downing Street but that he accepted the police's decisions.

    Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer dismissed the PM’s apology as “mealy-mouthed”, the SNP’s Ian Blackford said he should resign and Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said his actions had been “profoundly damaging”.

    Most Conservative MPs gave the PM their support – but one former senior minister called for him to go.

  9. Boris Johnson set for first PMQs after recesspublished at 11:42 British Summer Time 20 April 2022

    Boris JohnsonImage source, PA Media

    Good morning. Prime Minister's Questions is fast approaching.

    Boris Johnson will shortly face questions from Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, the SNP's Ian Blackford, the Liberal Democrats' Sir Ed Davey, and a number of backbenchers - a day on from his apology after being fined over partygate.

    Stay with us for live updates.