Boris Johnson will address the latest Partygate revelations for first time at Prime Minister's Questions today as he is told to "clear up" the scandal.

       The Conservative leader fields questions from MPs at midday after it emerged that Martin Reynolds, his Personal Private Secretary, invited more than 100 staff members to a "bring-your-own-booze" social drinks event at Downing Street during lockdown in May 2020.

       "More clarity is needed because we’re back where we were a month ago when people are demanding answers and we’re all in the dark, including me," senior Tory backbencher Huw Merriman told BBC Radio 4. "I do think it needs clearing up, it's gone on too [long]."

       However, Mr Merriman did not think it was a resignation matter for the Prime Minister, citing the success of the vaccine rollout and the Cabinet "holding the nerve on Plan B" when there were calls for further coronavirus restrictions before Christmas.

       Tobias Ellwood, the Tory chairman of the defence select committee, urged his party leader to "show some contrition" and use PMQs to apologise for the "poor judgement" of No 10.

       Yesterday, two poll found that a majority of voters want Mr Johnson to quit in the wake of the revelations. Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, this morning described his position as "untenable".

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       In the 1980s, Sue Gray briefly paused her stellar civil service career to buy a pub in “bandit country” in Northern Ireland during The Troubles. If Boris Johnson needed evidence that his inquisitor-in-chief is no pushover, then being landlady of a pub in Newry close to the Irish border shows she is no soft touch.

       Ms Gray has the task of investigating a series of alleged lockdown parties held in Downing Street and across government during the Covid-19 pandemic.

       Ominously for the Prime Minister, an MP once described her as “deputy god”, while Sir Oliver Letwin admitted when in Cabinet that it had taken him “precisely two years before I realised who it is that runs Britain", adding: "Our great United Kingdom is actually entirely run by a lady called Sue Gray. Nothing moves in Whitehall unless Sue says so.”

       She does not suffer fools. For six years, she was director-general, propriety and ethics, in the Cabinet Office.

       Robert Mendick, our Chief Reporter, has this must-read profile

       Sir Ed Davey has gone further than Angela Rayner (see 8.23am) in calling for the resignation of Boris Johnson after the "bring-your-own-booze" email emerged.

       Sir Ed, the Liberal Democrat leader, used his BBC Breakfast slot to claim Mr Johnson had "clearly lied" to the country and accused him of having broken the ministerial code.

       "I actually think he is a threat to the health of the nation, because no-one will do anything he says because he has now shown to have been deceitful, so Boris Johnson must now resign," he said.

       "He said to Parliament and to the country before Christmas when he was apologising that he didn't know about the parties, and now we know he was at at least one of those parties. These are grievous, grievous errors.

       "So if he was at the party, and it looks very clear that he was, then he must go now, he must resign. If he has a shred of decency left in him, I think he must resign today."

       Boris Johnson must "show some contrition" over reports of Downing Street parties, the Tory chairman of the defence select committee urged his party leader this morning.

       Tobias Ellwood was appearing on Sky News to discuss Russia and Kazakhstan but, somewhat predictably, the first thing he was asked about were reports of Downing Street parties.

       "The party has endured a couple of difficult months, you remember in November and December views were expressed then, both publicly and privately," he told Kay Burley.

       "We've got to regroup, we've got to upgrade the No 10 machine and rebuild trust with the nation. Yet here we are going back over the same ground, around the very same buoy, following I'm afraid the same old tactics - 'don't explain', 'don't apologise' - hoping it will blow over.

       "It's not blowing over and it's no longer about the optics in how unfair all this looks. We're actually spilling into denial that there's nothing to see here and that's just compounding matters. So I strongly urge the Prime Minister to act now, to apologise for No 10's poor judgement, to show some contrition and respond to Sue Gray's findings when they further come out. We can't allow things to drift, that is not an option."

       What were you doing on May 20, 2020? Not a lot, obviously. The country was in full lockdown, recalls Allison Pearson.

       Allison Pearson: What the hell were they playing at?

       A Tory MP has had the whip removed after supporting Labour's opposition day motion proposing to cut VAT on energy bills yesterday.

       The motion - which was voted down would have given Labour control of the Commons order paper, a Government source told Playbook this morning.

       But the party cannot say they were unable to see Ms Morris's rebellion coming. In a blog post on her website on Monday, she wrote: "I recently signed a letter urging the Prime Minister to scrap VAT and environment levies on energy bills.

       "These levies typically make up around 25 per cent of our energy bill. Having left the EU, we have the power to ease this problem and must do so - as the Prime Minister promised some years ago! This call for change is gaining momentum and I will most certainly continue to press the case."

       It is a case Ms Morris will now be pressing as an independent MP, reducing the number of Tories sitting in the Commons to 360.

       There's no sign of Boris Johnson this morning - and none of his ministers are on the airwaves as they would normally be.

       But more than happy to be pictured out and about is Sir Keir Starmer, who is enjoying his own personal 'freedom day' after testing negative on day six and day seven of his self-isolation period.

       This means he will be able to grill his Tory counterpart at PMQs at midday.

       Sir Keir was forced into isolation just before last week's Wednesday lunchtime session after a positive Covid test.

       It was the sixth time he has been forced to isolate due to the various strictures that once existed around close contacts, but only the second he had actually had coronavirus.

       One of the greatest mysteries of Boris Johnson’s premiership is why he failed to sack Dominic Cummings in the immediate aftermath of his lockdown visit to Barnard Castle, writes Gordon Rayner.

       Backbench MPs screamed out for pragmatism and ruthlessness from their leader, but he stubbornly refused to sack his adviser, allowing the wound to fester for another six months.

       Now, those same Tories believe an answer might have finally presented itself.

       The “bring your own booze” Number 10 garden party, which the Prime Minister has not denied attending, took place just two days before Mr Cummings’s trip to Barnard Castle was exposed. Is this the reason Mr Johnson was gripped by paralysis when his own supporters demanded he wield the axe?

       “It’s difficult to avoid that conclusion,” one senior Tory MP said. “A lot of us said at the time that it was an absolutely extraordinary decision to allow Cummings to stay on. It was just plain weird.

       Analysis: Was Barnard Castle decision just a coincidence?

       Angela Rayner called Boris Johnson's position "untenable" this morning as she added fuel to the political fire during a media round this morning.

       "It’s very simple for me, you just have to say were you at this party or not on May 20," Ms Rayner told BBC Breakfast. "He could clear this up very quickly and he’s refused to do so. He has undermined the British public so far by refusing to tell the British public what they deserve to hear, and that’s whether or not he broke the lockdown rules and whether he was at the party or not."

       Rayner expressed frustration that while some Tory MPs may be venting their anger, they are continually "propping up" the Prime Minister by not moving against him.

       "The British public, quite rightly, are very angry and upset. Many people who lost loved ones in that period are devastated by this news that Number 10 was partying while their loved ones died alone.

       "I think his position is untenable, he would have misled the House which is not unusual for Boris Johnson but this is very serious for the Prime Minister. At a time when the British public were asked to do the right thing, the Prime Minister totally disregarded that and attended a party at No 10."

       There is not really a defence available to the Prime Minister as he braces for a day of difficult questions, according to a former Downing Street adviser.

       Peter Cardwell, who worked as a special adviser under Boris Johnson and Theresa May, cautioned against underestimating a PM who has managed to weather every political storm to date, but told Radio 4: "I'm not really sure there is a defence".

       "Keir Starmer only needs to ask the same question six times - 'Prime Minister, did you attend the party on May 20, yes or no?' - and Boris Johnson must give an answer.

       "I’m not sure there is a defence. If he says yes, it appears he broke the rules and that he lied. If he says no, there are a lot of eyewitnesses who say he was there. Boris Johnson is someone who’s made a career out of getting out of sticky situations, it remains whether he can get out of this one.

       "It will be fascinating to see how many Conservative MPs are behind the green benches, literally and figuratively, today. I would say that you’ve got to get everything in the public domain as quickly as possible. He should have said everything about the party, made a full and abject apology, and said he would cooperate with any inquiry to get all the details in the public domain."

       There are "no words" to capture the anger around reports Boris Johnson attended parties at Downing Street, a former minister wrote to her constituents.

       Caroline Nokes, the Tory MP for Romsey and Southampton North, said in a letter: "I have no words that can adequately express how angry I am as the ‘don’t do as I do, do as I say’ attitude that appears to have prevailed in Downing Street.

       "I will not try to explain or excuse, but I will certainly apologise to you for the conduct that has come to light."

       Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Tories, yesterday demanded the resignation of Boris Johnson if he is found to have attended any parties at No 10 while Britons were being told by his government to stay at home except for essential reasons.

       The Government has not put a minister forward for this morning's broadcast round on one of the most politically difficult days of Boris Johnson's premiership to date.

       Edward Argar, the health minister, could not say whether the Mr Johnson had attended any parties during his breakfast television interviews yesterday, while Michael Ellis, the paymaster general, was sent by No 10 to field an urgent question from Labour about the events of May 2020.

       "Is the party over for the Prime Minister?" asked Sky News anchor Kay Burley. "We would ask the Government, but the minister is not available this morning. The invitation is still open."

       As yet, it is perhaps unsurprising that no one from the Cabinet has fancied a chat as the pressure grows on the Prime Minister.

       Boris Johnson will address the latest partygate revelations for first time at Prime Minister's Questions today, as he is told to "clear up" the scandal.

       The PM losing Tory support is the focus of today's Telegraph front page:

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