‘Partygate’: Johnson’s removal is now inevitable, warns loyalist

More MPs set to submit resignation demands as No 10 rejigs team

Boris Johnson's desperate efforts to save his premiership were undermined on Saturday as one of his most loyal backbench supporters said it was now inevitable" that Tory MPs would remove him from office over the partygate" scandal.

In an interview with the Observer, Sir Charles Walker, a former vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs, implored the prime minister to go of his own accord in the national interest, and likened the events in the Tory party to a Greek tragedy.