Ex-attorney general Jeremy Wright joins Tory calls for PM to quit

Jeremy Wright was a cabinet colleague of then foreign secretary Boris Johnson

More Conservative MPs including former Attorney General Jeremy Wright have joined growing calls for Prime Minister Boris Johnson to resign.

Mr Wright said the controversy over lockdown parties in Downing Street had done "lasting damage" to the party.

The scale of Covid rule-breaking within government was laid bare in a report by senior official Sue Gray last week.

Eleven Tory MPs have publicly urged the PM to quit since it was published, bringing the total number to 27.

Most of the 27 have submitted letters of no confidence in Mr Johnson's leadership. A threshold of 54 has to be hit for a confidence vote to take place.

Others may have submitted letters without without making it known publicly.

Only Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs, knows the exact number that have been submitted.

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On Monday Elliot Colburn, elected in 2019, confirmed he had submitted a letter - whilst his colleague Andrew Bridgen also confirmed he had done the same.

They are the latest in a steady stream of Tory MPs to say they have taken the step since Ms Gray's report was published last week.

Meanwhile, Andrea Leadsom - who was the PM's business secretary until a February 2020 reshuffle - has added to the criticism of the prime minister's handling of the Partygate saga.

In a letter to constituents written on Monday, she said the Gray report revealed "unacceptable failures of leadership that cannot be tolerated and are the responsibility of the prime minister".

"Each of my Conservative MP colleagues and I must now decide individually on what is the right course of action," she added.

Andrea Leadsom ran against Boris Johnson at the 2019 Tory leadership, but backed him after she was knocked out of the contest.

Mr Wright, who was attorney general under former Conservative prime ministers David Cameron and Theresa May, has not confirmed whether he has submitted a no-confidence letter.

The barrister was culture secretary for a year until Mr Johnson took office in July 2019, when he was replaced in a cabinet reshuffle.

In a lengthy statement on his website, he said the Partygate controversy had "done real and lasting damage to the reputation not just of this Government but to the institutions and authority of government more generally".

"Putting that right matters hugely to the essence of government authority and to the effectiveness of government policy, and I cannot see that the moving on of civil servants or apologies, however heartfelt, will succeed in doing so," he added.

"For the good of this and future governments, the prime minister should resign".

Not a knee-jerk reaction

Jeremy Wright's lengthy statement clearly isn't a knee-jerk reaction to the Sue Gray report.

Stretching to more than 2,000 words, the statement seems at pains to make clear he has considered his position before calling on the prime minister to quit.

He says in his view there is not yet enough evidence to conclude the prime minister deliberately misled parliament about parties - which is perhaps one of the most serious charges he faces in the eyes of many Tory MPs.

However, Mr Wright says the whole saga has done such damage to the government's reputation that it could hinder its ability to respond to the country's challenges.

That's ultimately what might prove most dangerous for the prime minister.

No 10 might hope people can "move on" from the ins and outs of Partygate itself, but if enough Conservative MPs conclude it has done lasting damage to the credibility of government, then the trickle calling on Mr Johnson to go might not dry up any time soon.

The latest trickle of letters comes as most MPs are in their constituencies for the week-long Whitsun recess, which comes ahead of the Queen's Jubilee weekend.

Cabinet ministers have rallied to Mr Johnson's defence since the publication of Mr Gray's report, while other Tory MPs have not backed calls for his resignation.

Conservative MP Anthony Browne told the BBC that while the revelations about parties had been "very painful", the prime minister had got the "big measures right" on the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.