A former Tory minister has declared the UK 'needs to change the Prime Minister' as the MP handed in a letter of no confidence in Boris Johnson.
Former schools minister Nick Gibb said the Prime Minister needed to be replaced 'to restore trust' amid the ongoing 'partygate' scandal.
A total of 13 Tory MPs have now publicly urged the PM to step down, with eight announcing they had submitted letters of no confidence in him.
Some 54 letters need to be sent to the chair of the 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady, before a vote is held on Mr Johnson's future.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Gibb, MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, wrote: "We need to face up to hard truths.
"To restore trust, we need to change the Prime Minister.
"My constituents are furious about the double standards – imposing harsh and, to my mind, necessary restrictions as we and the world sought to defend ourselves against this new and deadly virus, while at the same time flagrantly disregarding those rules within the fortress of Downing Street."
It comes after another Tory MP, Aaron Bell, announced he had also submitted a letter of no confidence in the PM today.
Mr Bell, who was elected in 2019, said he wrote his letter on January 12, after the PM apologised in the Commons for attending a Downing Street lockdown party.
He has since struggled to "square the Prime Minister's words from the despatch box with his previous statements to the house before Christmas".
Mr Bell previously asked if the Prime Minister thought he is a "fool" for following Covid rules during his grandmother's funeral in May 2020.
Mr Bell told MPs: "I didn’t hug my siblings, I didn’t hug my parents, I gave the eulogy and then afterwards I didn’t even go to her house for a cup of tea.
"I drove back three hours from Kent to Staffordshire. Does the Prime Minister think I’m a fool?”
The Prime Minister struggled to respond to his question and said: "No Mr Speaker and I want to thank my honourable friend and say how deeply I sympathise with him and his family for their loss.
"I'm sorry for the judgments made by me or No 10 and I ask him respectfully to look at what Sue Gray has said and also respectfully to wait for the report."
Meanwhile The Mirror has tonight been told that police have a photograph of Mr Johnson holding a can of beer at his lockdown birthday party in June 2020.
The Prime Minister is pictured standing next to Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who is holding a soft drink, in No10’s Cabinet Room.
Sources said Mr Johnson appeared to be raising his can of Estrella beer towards the camera in a toast.
The bombshell image was thought to have been taken by Mr Johnson’s official taxpayer-funded photographer who was documenting the event.
It is thought to be among 300 pictures submitted to the Metropolitan Police as evidence of rule-busting gatherings by senior civil servant Sue Gray.
