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The Conservative party does not miss the “drama” of Boris Johnson, Grant Shapps has said.Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday, 11 June, the energy secretary was pressed on whether more MPs would quit in solidarity with the former prime minister.Mr Johnson announced his resignation as MP on Friday (9 June) after launching a scathing attack on the Commons Privileges Committee probe into whether he misled the Commons over the Partygate scandal.Mr Johnson’s allies Nadine Dorries and Nigel Adams resigned after the former PM’s statement.”It’s very hard to predict the future,” Mr Shapps said. More

Applause erupted as a BBC Radio 4 audience learned of Boris Johnson’s resignation during the recording of an Any Questions episode on Friday, 9 June, in Pembrokeshire.Host Alex Forsyth relayed the news that the former prime minister announced he is quitting as an MP, claiming he is the victim of a Partygate and Brexit witch-hunt.Mr Johnson’s resignation came as he received a report by a committee of MPs into whether he misled the Commons over his partygate assurances.”I really like the guy and I’m sorry he’s gone,” panellist and Conservative minister David TC Davies said to groans from the audience. More

Boris Johnson’s former press secretary has described the ex-prime minister’s resignation statement as “Trumpian.”Speaking to Sky News, Will Walden said his former boss had used the “language of vendetta” in a letter, which he called “deeply misleading in places,” announcing he is to step down as an MP.Mr Johnson’s resignation came on Friday, 9 June, as he received a report by a committee of MPs into whether he misled the Commons over his partygate assurances.The former prime minister wrote that he is being “driven” out of Parliament and claimed that he was a victim of a Partygate and Brexit witch-hunt. More

Oliver Dowden drew laughter from the government benches when he said he will “take no lectures on profligacy” from the SNP.The deputy prime minister stood in for Rishi Sunak during PMQs on Wednesday 7 June, when Mhairi Black questioned him over the “priorities” of the Tory party in the cost of living crisis.“This government plans to cut taxes for the richest, spend £6bn imprisoning people fleeing war and persecution and has lost £21bn to government fraud throughout this pandemic,” Ms Black said.“Is the view from the prime minister’s luxury helicopter so skewed that during a cost of living crisis, he thinks this is what people’s priorities are?”Mr Dowden then hit back, saying: “I’m going to take no lectures on profligacy from the SNP”. More

Angela Rayner urged deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden to “go back to school” and improve his “dire” PMQs “punchlines” as the pair clashed in the House of Commons on Wednesday 7 June.The duo stood in for Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer and exchanged barbs at the Despatch box, first over the Covid inquiry, before moving on to schooling issues.“For the last couple of years, he’s been trying to prep prime ministers for this, but these punchlines are dire,” Ms Rayner said of Mr Dowden’s performance.“He really needs to go back to school himself.” More

Boris Johnson refused to answer whether his political career is ‘over’ if accusations of ‘further lockdown breaches’ are proven to be true.The former prime minister blasted the accusations of ‘repeated breaches’ from Chequers and Downing Street to be ‘a load of absolute nonsense’.When questioned by Sky News on whether he’d be stepping back from politics he replied: “The answer is that, as I said before, there was absolutely no rule-breaking.””Those who want to make allegations shall make allegations…and so far no one has.”Click here to sign up for our newsletters. More

As former deputy chief of staff to Boris Johnson, Cleo Watson has a unique insight into life in Downing Street as a landslide election win, a Brexit deal and the Covid response, including partygate, unfurled so her new fictionalised novel, “Whips”, has been devoured by the Westminster scene.Cleo sat down with editor-in-chief Geordie Greig to discuss the book and what life was really like in Downing Street, as well as how it was working under Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings during the Covid pandemic.Click here to sign up for our newsletters. More