Boris Johnson news – latest: Michael Gove says former PM is ‘man of integrity’

The vast majority of Britons think Boris Johnson is dishonest, a new poll has found after the former prime minister insisted he did not lie to MPs over Partygate during a heated inquiry hearing.

The YouGov poll found that 72 per cent of Britons think Mr Johnson is dishonest, while 51 per cent of Conservative voters and 59 per cent of pro-Brexit voters polled believe the same.

It comes after the former prime minister faced a tense showdown at the Commons Privileges Committee on Wednesday over whether he lied to MPs with his denials of lockdown-busting parties held in Downing Street.

Boris Johnson will step up campaigning in his constituency as concerns grow that he will face a by-election within months if he is found to have deliberately misled Parliament over Downing Street lockdown parties.

It comes after Tory polling guru Lord Hayward warned the former prime minister would lose his Uxbridge and Ruislip seat if he is punished severely by the cross-party committee and forced to fight for his seat.

According to The Times, Mr Johnson is planning for the “worst-case scenario”– that the committee imposes a 10-day suspension from the Commons, which could trigger a by-election.

Britain’s middle-class voters are beginning to return to the Conservatives because they like Rishi Sunak, according to a top polling guru.

Labour has become “overconfident” in recent months, said elections expert Lord Hayward – describing the large poll leads enjoyed by Sir Keir Starmer’s party as “overestimated”.

The influential Conservative peer said: “Rishi is seriously outrating the Tory party. It has the potential – as long as Rishi doesn’t screw it up – for Rishi to drag the party up to his level.”

Thanks for following along with our political news coverage. We are pausing reporting for the night but here is the latest from Political correspondent Adam Forrest on the 2024 election prospects.

Boris Johnson has had a busy week. Here are some of the pictures from an eventful seven days.

The man himself has not tweeted about partygate all week and has kept a low profile on social media.

He did, on Friday, speak at the CEO Club of Ukraine, which made his only tweet of the week.

Mr Johnson has kept up good relations with Ukraine since leaving No 10.

Boris Johnson has been a divisive figure but an audience on Question Time showed he did not have many supporters.

Having missed her last moments due to Covid restrictions, Mick Yates stood two metres apart from his brothers as his mother’s coffin was lowered into her grave on 26 June 2020.

A week before, Boris Johnson had been photographed in a room full of at least 30 people celebrating his birthday at a time of strict lockdown rules.

Find out what Mr Yates thinks about partygate in our article here.

Boris Johnson’s attempt at a political comeback is “finished”, according to senior Tory Caroline Nokes after his torrid grilling by MPs at the televised Partygate inquiry hearing.

And a Tory polling guru said the former prime minister would lose his Uxbridge and Ruislip seat if he is punished severely by the cross-party committee and forced to face a by-election in the months ahead.

Read the full article here.

ICYMI: Boris Johnson was dealt two humiliating blows in parliament on Wednesday as he was forced to plead “hand on heart” that he had not lied to MPs over Partygate while he also failed to lead a Commons revolt against Rishi Sunak.

During an occasionally bad-tempered three-hour grilling, the former prime minister defended the decision to hold parties inside No 10 during the pandemic – including one attended by his wife and his interior designer – saying they had been “necessary” for work purposes.

Kate Devlin and Adam Forrest reported here.