'No10 has finally and belatedly seen the black clouds looming - clearly too late'

Boris Johnson has never enjoyed his weekly round of the Commons tea rooms to shore up support after PMQs – a world king should not have to court his subjects.

So the fact he was there yesterday shows that No10 had finally and belatedly seen the black clouds looming.

Clearly it was too late, and last night the storm broke over the Prime Minister’s head, plunging his premiership into its greatest jeopardy yet.

But the sky had begun darkening last week, when he flew back from an eight-day foreign jaunt on Thursday evening to be confronted with news of Chris Pincher’s shame and his resignation as Deputy Chief Whip.

Last night allegations that Pincher had groped two men in the Carlton Club – and Downing Street’s handling of the scandal – looked set to seal the PM’s fate.

Britain's ex Health Secretary Sajid Javid (Getty Images)

The phone call that set the whole train of events in motion arrived moments after Mr Johnson’s plane touched down at Stansted airport following his dizzying diplomatic tour taking in Rwanda, Germany and Spain.

While “A*** Pincher” voluntarily quit the whips office, Mr Johnson baulked at kicking him out of the party and potentially triggering yet another by-election.

On Friday there unfolded a shameful session of the daily lobby questions with the PM’s spokesman – in this case, the deputy official spokesman. A hapless civil servant, either poorly briefed or directly lied to by his seniors, told journalists that the Prime Minister was “not aware of any specific allegations” against Pincher when he appointed him Deputy Chief Whip in February.

It soon became clear this simply was not true. But on Sunday, Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey was dispatched to defend the indefensible in a series of excruciating interviews.

She repeated the line that the PM had not known about “specific claims”, adding: “I don’t believe he was aware, that’s what I’ve been told today.”

Handout photo of the letter sent by Health Secretary Sajid Javid to Prime Minister Boris Johnson (PA)

Photo of the letter sent by Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak (PA)

Then on Monday junior minister Will Quince was sent into broadcast studios to parrot the party line, an MP elected in 2015 who was at pains to separate what he personally felt from what he had been told.

The Downing Street position shifted when it became obvious that Mr Johnson had known full well what Pincher had been accused of and that he had decided it was not enough to stop his appointment to the key role.

Pincher had previously resigned from the whips office in 2017 after a former Olympic rower and Tory activist accused him of having made an unwanted sexual pass. A Tory probe cleared him of wrongdoing.

Further allegations followed that year and the next, but he was re-appointed as Deputy Chief Whip by then-PM Theresa May in 2018.

Far from being unaware of any such allegations, it has been claimed the PM spoke of “Pincher by name, pincher by nature”.

The Downing Street position shifted when it became obvious that Mr Johnson had known full well what Pincher had been accused of and that he had decided it was not enough to stop his appointment to the key role (Getty Images)

By Monday the official line from No10 had switched to admitting the PM was aware of allegations that were “either resolved or did not progress to a formal complaint”.

Then top Foreign Office civil servant Lord Simon McDonald spoke out, writing a letter insisting that the original No10 account was “not true” and the PM had been briefed “in person”. Downing Street changed to insisting the PM had simply forgotten.

Cabinet Office Minister Michael Ellis told MPs: “Last week, when fresh allegations arose, the Prime Minister did not immediately recall the conversation in late 2019 about this incident.

“As soon as he was reminded, the No10 press office corrected their public lines.”

Mr Johnson denied lying to his aides about the situation.

Ex Chancellor Rishi Sunak (PA)

But a look at the footage from yesterday’s 9am Cabinet meeting shows Chancellor Rishi Sunak deliberately and physically distancing himself from the PM.

However, no one spoke up, and they were treated to the bizarre spectacle of the PM carrying on as normal.

It was after this meeting that he made his way to the tea rooms and invited loyalists into his Commons office for drinks, desperate to guarantee their support. In truth, it was far too late. Yesterday Senior Tory Will Wragg said ministers should consider how long they were prepared to carry on supporting the PM.

He told the Commons: “I would ask them to consider...if they can any longer tolerate being part of a Government which, for better or worse, is widely regarded of having lost its sense of direction.”

For all that he had gloried in his high-profile tour on the world stage at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Rwanda, the G7 summit in Bavaria and NATO in Madrid, it was obvious to those travelling with him that things back home were not going his way.

While he was abroad, Downing Street simply shrugged off any questions about his troubled leadership as “Westminster bubble” queries. But last night, seconds after the PM was seen on TV trying to justify his response to the latest scandal, Health Secretary Sajid Javid and the Chancellor Rishi Sunak dramatically fell on their swords.

Today Mr Johnson’s political life hangs in the balance. And he has no one to blame but himself.