Boris Johnson faces hardest week in office as Conservative party tumult grows

PM faces mounting challenge to authority over plan B restrictions at the same time as a once safe seat hangs on a knife edge

Boris Johnson is facing the most testing week of his troubled premiership as a mounting Tory rebellion over new Covid-19 restrictions threatens his authority in parliament and a supposedly safe Conservative seat appears on a knife-edge ahead of a byelection on Thursday.

After a tumultuous week for the prime minister, which saw him having to apologise over the way his officials joked about a rule-busting Christmas party in Downing Street last year and deny that he had misled his own standards adviser over the refurbishment of his flat in Downing Street, even some of his most loyal supporters are now privately raising questions about his chances of leading the party into the next general election.