good evening from downing street, on a dramatic day in westminster as the prime minister fights for his political life in the face of intense pressure over parties held here during lockdown. for the second week in a row, borisjohnson faced calls for his resignation at prime minister s questions, among them from a former conservative cabinet member, david davis, who said, in the name of god, go . and moments before the prime minister stood up in parliament, one of his own mps announced he was defecting to labour. borisjohnson again apologised for any misjudgments and told the commons that mps should wait for the results of an inquiry into the allegations, which is due next week. here s our political editor, laura kuenssberg. the editor, laura kuenssberg. atmosphere and the prii minister s the atmosphere and the prime minister s neighbourhood is the risk. danger dangles all around the borisjohnson risk. danger dangles all around the boris johnson with risk. danger dangles all around the
unexpected moments. tom certainly a day of high drama and unexpected moments. unexpected moments. two big sur - rises unexpected moments. two big surprises for unexpected moments. two big surprises for this unexpected moments. two big surprises for this place, - unexpected moments. two big surprises for this place, and i unexpected moments. two big surprises for this place, and a | unexpected moments. two big i surprises for this place, and a very uneasy mood around here. first off, the call from david davies, the former cabinet minister and fellow traveller on brexit, gave boris johnson a dramatic and clear indication, for a seniorfigure, calling for him to go, not something anyone was expecting this morning, then this defection, a conservative crossing the floor, politically and physically in the commons to go and sit with the labour party, we have not seen that for a very long time. on the one hand, shot like that, the 0n the one hand, shot like that, the nasty surprise, the la
saying rebellious mps were being threatened with the withdrawal of funds for their constituencies. it comes as mrjohnson s political allies are suggesting the immediate threat to his leadership has eased. they say the defection of the conservative mp for bury south, christian wakeford, to labour, appears to have persuaded other mps not to challenge him this week. this is what mr wragg had to say in the past hour. i have a brief statement i wish to read to the committee. as the committee of the house of commons overseeing the work of the civil servants, including the cabinet office, of which 10 downing street as a department, and the proper functioning of the constitution, i d like to make this brief statement. in recent days, a number of members of parliament have faced pressures and intimidation from members of the government because of their declared or assumed desire for a vote of confidence
teacher was attacked while out exercising beside a canal in tullamore, county 0ffaly, last wednesday. the man is being questioned in relation to the potential withholding of information. the person arrested yesterday, also in his 30s, continues to be questioned on suspicion of murder. back to our main story now, the prime minister fighting to stay here in downing street. a lot of focus in the past 24 hours has been on the tory backbenchers in the so called red wall seats, where until two years ago, voters had always supported labour. that all changed in 2019 when they suddenly switched to the tories. 0ur north of england correspondent fiona trott has been speaking to voters in one such seat, bishop auckland, which went blue for the first time at the last election. a town where westminster feels a million miles away. in bishop auckland, people just want investment and jobs. it s why they voted for change. and today, over cake and coffee, politics was the talk of the tearoom.
also this hour, the british dental association says nhs dentistry is hanging by a thread as some patients wait two years for check ups. the first plane carrying aid lands in tonga, on a runway newly cleared of ash, following saturday s volcanic eruption and tsunami. and coming up in half an hour, we ll have the latest from melbourne, where andy murray and emma raducanu are both in action. borisjohnson s political allies are suggesting the immediate threat to his leadership has eased. they say the defection of the conservative mp for bury south, christian wakeford, to labour, appears to have persuaded other mps not to challenge him this week. it s now thought many tory backbenchers will wait for the report into downing street parties before deciding