Some of Boris Johnson's closest allies are rallying behind the former PM before a vote on a damning report which found he had misled MPs over Partygate.
Nadine Dorries is among a small group of Johnson loyalists planning to oppose the Privileges Committee's report in a Commons vote on Monday.
Many other Tory MPs have yet to decide how to vote - or whether to abstain.
The motion - which would see Mr Johnson stripped of his right to a parliament pass - is likely to pass comfortably.
The committee's main recommendation is that Mr Johnson should be suspended from Parliament for 90 days, but he has already stood down as an MP.
The report, which was published on Thursday morning, said the former PM had deliberately misled Parliament over lockdown parties and had committed repeated offences with his denials.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak - who was Mr Johnson's chancellor - has not said whether he will vote on the report.
Johnson loyalists - including former ministers Sir Simon Clarke, Nadine Dorries and Sir Jake Berry - have said they will vote against the report's findings.
It is likely that many more Conservative MPs could abstain, or simply not turn up to the vote, while Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP are all expected to support the committee's findings.
But Conservative MPs still face a dilemma over Monday's vote.
Voting against the recommendations risks alienating local party activists who want Mr Johnson gone, voting for it risks angering his fans, who believe he has been hounded out of Parliament.
Allies of Mr Johnson warned Tory MPs they could face battles with their local parties to remain as candidates at the next election if they back the motion.
Senior Conservative MP Damian Green told the BBC that "deliberately abstaining is not really rising to the importance of the occasion".
The former cabinet minister under Theresa May said he intended to vote to approve the report with a "heavy heart".
Sir Jake - an ally of Mr Johnson - said he was "almost certain that Parliament will vote in favour" of the report on Monday.
But Sir Jake said he would "certainly be one of those in the no lobby opposing this report, whose conclusions he called "wrong".
So far, 16 Conservatives have publicly criticised the committee:
- Johnson ally Ms Dorries suggested Tories who vote for the report should be kicked out of the party
- Sir James Duddridge tweeted: "Why not go the full way, put Boris in the stocks and provide rotten food to throw at him?"
- Former Prime Minister Liz Truss told GB News she would not question the integrity of the committee, but added their decision seemed "very harsh".
Liberal Democrats say the report "speaks for itself" and should be approved without a debate.
Sir Ed Davey criticised the amount of time the government is spending debating Mr Johnson's conduct, and said the Conservative party is operating "in absolute chaos".
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Following a year-long investigation, the seven-person Privileges Committee found Mr Johnson had had "personal knowledge" of Covid-rule breaches in Downing Street but had repeatedly failed to "pro-actively investigate" the facts.
The committee said officials had not advised Mr Johnson that social distancing guidelines were followed at all times, contrary to what he said in the House of Commons at the time.
In key evidence, Martin Reynolds - one of Mr Johnson's most senior officials - said he had advised the PM against making the claim, questioning whether it was "realistic".
Mr Johnson announced last Friday that he was standing down as an MP with immediate effect after being shown a draft of the report.
A by-election will be held on 20 July in his Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency.
In an eviscerating statement he branded the committee a "kangaroo court" and its findings "deranged", accusing Harriet Harman, the Labour chairwoman of the committee, of bias.
The committee said the initial proposed sanction was increased "in light of Mr Johnson's conduct" in recent days - including breaching confidentiality rules and "being complicit in the campaign of abuse and attempted intimidation of the committee".
Mr Johnson's statement was "completely unacceptable", they said.
Responding to the report, Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner said Mr Johnson had "disgraced himself", and the Liberal Democrats' Daisy Cooper said he had treated Parliament with "total disdain". SNP leader Humza Yousaf called it a "dark day" for Westminster.
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2023-06-16 09:40:57Z
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