Johnson 2022 exit betting moves to 77% chance. @betdatapolitics pic.twitter.com/iwJnxznhKx

— Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) January 24, 2022

EXCLUSIVE: Boris Johnson had a birthday party during lockdown in June 2020 despite rules forbidding social gatherings indoors, ITV News has learnt.

Up to 30 staff celebrated in the cabinet room where Carrie Johnson surprised him with a cake, we're told.https://t.co/2IEwZpjHR7

— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) January 24, 2022

This gets worse and worse for Number 10

The overall issue remains. If 54 Tory MPs do send letters in demanding a confidence vote the majority of party MPs taking part in that ballot have to vote for him to go for that to happen.

A possible situation that could be tricky is if Johnson survived this by just a small margin and he sought, as seems likely, to try to carry on. He’d be even more damaged and a lame duck but he would still be PM.

This latest revelation from ITV news further adds to the problem and the drip drip of news coming out must be making even his most loyal supporters feeling even more uneasy.

One assumes that Cummings has played a big part in this given his stated objective is to force Johnson to quit. We can also assume that he has more aces up his sleeve.

I like this Tweet.

I must say, whoever orchestrated this extremely professional defenestration of a sitting PM must be good at politics. They should be put in charge of a referendum or election campaign.

— Glen O'Hara (@gsoh31) January 24, 2022

Mike Smithson