I’ll be back PM plotting return to Downing St, says close ally

Boris Johnson is likely to pitch to become Prime Minister again, provided he escapes censure over partygate, a close ally has said. Lord Marland, a Conservative peer who led Mr Johnson’s London mayoral campaign, said: “We lose the next election, we could be looking for a leader who can win elections – and of course Boris Johnson has that. He wants to … build up his bank balance. Once he’s done that, if he’s still an

MP and hasn’t been found to have behaved incorrectly by the standards committee, he has that opportunity.”

Legal advice, commissioned by the Cabinet Office, was expected to question the

legitimacy of the partygate inquiry. Lord Pannick QC’S advice was expected to say investigating ministers for misleading the Commons “in good faith” could “paralyse democracy”.