Boris Johnson news – live: PM told to quit if fined by police and keep out of Cressida Dick successor search

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is the favoured candidate to replace Boris Johnson among voters, according to The Independent’s exclusive polling.

The chancellor is the top choice among Tory supporters and the electorate at large, with 29 per cent of voters and 43 per cent of Conservatives saying they would be more likely to back the party with him at the helm.

Some distance behind the chancellor were health secretary Sajid Javid, followed by former leadership contender Jeremy Hunt and foreign secretary Liz Truss, according to the Savanta ComRes survey.

Almost half (46 per cent) of voters said it will make no difference to their living standards, while 23 per cent said it will worsen them.

Just 23 per cent of the 2,232 voters taking part in the Savanta ComRes survey think it will make things better.

Among those who want the PM to resign in The Independent’s exclusive polling, Partygate was the most-cited reason.

This reason was followed by the PM’s perceived dishonesty (79 per cent) and his personal behaviour (77 per cent).

For Conservative supporters who want him out, Mr Johnson’s lies were seen as a stronger justification for his removal than the lockdown breaches.

You can read Andrew Woodcock’s full story here.

“The opening banter between Boris Johnson and his new press secretary, Guto Harri, was of such quality it might have been scripted by Armando Iannucci or Ricky Gervais,” writes Sean O’Grady.

He says the PM’s new spin doctor knows Johnson well enough to tell him some home truths.

But will the prime minister listen?

You can read the full story below.

Almost a third of Conservative voters want Boris Johnson to quit now, according to exclusive polling for The Independent.

But 30 per cent of Conservative supporters want him to go only if he is found to have broken Covid rules – while 31 per cent are happy for him to remain in office even if he is fined.

This means a majority of Tory voters are willing to see the PM stay on if he is cleared of breaking the rules.

You can read Andrew Woodcock’s full story here.

Exclusive polling for The Independent shows 75 per cent of voters think Boris Johnson should go if he is found guilty of breaking Covid rules.

The Savanta ComRes survey showed just 16 per cent think the MP should stay if he is found guilty of breaches in investigations by the Metropolitan Police and civil servant Sue Gray.

Today’s poll of 2,232 voters also found 49 per cent believe Mr Johnson should resign no matter what the result.

Veteran Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale has said there would be “public outcry” if the prime minister gets fined over Covid lockdown breaches and tries to keep his job.

“We are not talking about a parking ticket or something like that,” he told The Independent.

“His position, if it is not already untenable, will become completely untenable if he faces any kind of police sanction.”

You can read Andrew Woodcock’s full story here.

Tory MPs are warning that Boris Johnson must not fight to stay prime minister if he is fined by police over Downing Street parties.

The news comes after exclusive polling for The Independent showed the party risks a brutal backlash from voters, with a record 75 per cent thinking Johnson should go if he is found guilty of breaking the rules.

Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen is being investigated by parliament’s standards watchdog over claims of paid lobbying and failing to properly declare interests.

The investigation into the backbencher comes after a report in The Times alleged he lobbied government minister Andrew Stephenson to help with a timber firm’s tax affairs.

Mere Plantations donated £5,000 to the North West Leicestershire MP’s local Tory association following a call to the then-Foreign Office minister in 2019.

Here’s the full story.

The chances of problems with the Northern Ireland Protocol being resolved before Stormont Assembly elections in May are “quite small”, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has said.

Sir Jeffrey said there was “very little progress” in ongoing discussions between the UK Government and the EU.

European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss met in London on Friday as part of their attempt to break the deadlock over the protocol and committed to intensive discussions.

But the DUP leader told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “There is very little progress in the talks, as we saw yesterday.

“That was confirmed to me by the Prime Minister.

“He doesn’t expect, unless something changes dramatically, that agreement will be reached this side of an election to remove the Irish Sea border.”

You can read the full story below.