Laura Kuenssberg: MPs resolved to leave PM on probation
- Published
It was only 12 pages, but there was one very damaging and difficult conclusion in the terse summary of Sue Gray's report.
It is there now in black and white for all to see - there was rule breaking at the top of government when the country was living through lockdown.
The prime minister's original claim that all the guidelines were followed seem almost farcical now.
Downing Street's early dismissals of the claims, even some of Mr Johnson's allies admit, now seem ill-advised. The Tory leader was savaged in the Commons, including by some of his own side, the disbelief and despair led by the former occupant of his address.
The publication, however, has not toppled over an overwhelming set of dominoes.
There are Conservative MPs who are incandescent. There are also a band of loyalists who are determined to help him stay on, almost whatever happens next.
And late on Monday, they were not suddenly full of new panic that it was all about to fall apart - indeed, after what they believe was a better outing for Mr Johnson in private in front of his MPs on Monday night, they believe the would-be rebels who want to see him gone don't have any meaningful new momentum.
Remember the process that Tory MPs can use to trigger a contest for their leader is secret, so no-one can be sure how near or far the malcontents are from the threshold of 54 private letters which would press the button on a contest.
It cannot have been easy for many of them to endure Keir Starmer's stand-out speech in the Commons on Monday, when he quoted Thatcher at them, urging them to act to end what seems to him, and some of them, a sorry saga.
Yet Boris Johnson's helped by the fact the report has not yet named any specific names. The verdict was damning, but not personal, the criticisms sharp but general.
And those who want him gone are also hindered by the fact that they don't yet agree on who or what should come next if they summon up the courage to take action. One minister who is certainly in that camp described it as 'the battle of the Alamo, we can see what's coming, and we know the captain is leading us badly, but we don't yet know who to pass the baton to'.
Yet Downing Street is not clear of danger. Sue Gray's findings put this whole mess back under the public's nose. How the polls shift in the coming days and weeks will help shape Downing Street's fortunes, for good or for ill.
The embarrassment of the coming police report could dramatically make things even worse. Events that we know he attended are now officially under police investigation, including one in his own home, the Downing Street flat. And extraordinarily the police are even confirming publicly how many photographs and pieces of evidence they have.
Boris Johnson has reduced the fever in his party by making his MPs a set of promises - to change his team in Number 10, potentially some expect a new chief whip, a few ministerial moves as well as departures of some of his backroom staff.
He's promised the return of the campaigner Lynton Crosby, which doesn't at this stage seem like a formal new appointment, more like a vow that he'll take stronger advice.
Many rational MPs seem to have resolved to leave Mr Johnson on probation - break the commitments he made to them and that could quickly change. For now it seems the prime minister has survived the day. Yet in time, his MPs will judge whether just getting through is enough.