Boris Johnson has fended off a leadership challenge … for now

Analysis: With Tory MPs calling for him to quit and a police investigation into lockdown parties, the prime minister seemed to be in peril

One month ago, Boris Johnson's premiership seemed to be in peril. Coming into work felt like going to a funeral every day," one No 10 aide recalled. You could feel the guilt in the building from people who thought we've let him down'."

Faced with a trickle of Tory MPs openly calling for the prime minister to quit and a police investigation into lockdown parties, the politician who had always managed to wriggle free appeared this time to have no way out.