we have more people in employment land more employees on the payrolll now than there were before the pandemic began. - that is what my staff have been working on in downing street. i some mps are accusing borisjohnson of misleading parliament over lockdown parties in downing street. the leader of the scottish conservatives says the number of letters needed to oust the prime minister is near . 5a letters are needed to trigger a leadership vote. over the next half an hour, we ll look at how borisjohnson got to this point, his career so far and his future as prime minister. he s a successful politician. we ll look at what you need to do if he s to carry on. he needs to do. boris johnson s future tonight hangs in the hands of his own mps after days of public anger, over lockdown parties held in downing street. we heard another person calling for him to go. like many on these benches, i spent weeks and months defending the prime minister against often angry constituents. i r
sarah vine, columnist with the daily mail, and ruth smeeth, former labour mp in stoke on trent. and on a busy night, we also have. amanda renteria, former adviser to hillary clinton. welcome to context. occasionally, there are two stories that collide and compete for our attention, and this is one of those nights, although strangely, there are obvious parallels between them. on this side, these are truly dark times for the prime minister, borisjohnson. today, one of the new intake of northern mps defected to the labour party, while one of his former brexit allies stabbed him in the front and called on him to resign. in washington things are not quite as serious forjoe biden, in washington, things are not quite as serious forjoe biden, but like the conservatives, the democrats are asking what their leader can do to stop the rot. in the senate the president s agenda is stalled, inflation is soaring, in the senate, the president s agenda is stalled, covid i9 still a problem, and
a british man who took four people hostage at a texas synagogue had been investigated by mi5, but by the time he flew to the us, malik faisal akram was assessed to be no longer a risk. britain s emma raducanu wins through to the second round of the australian open on a good day for british players, with andy murray among those also through. the prime minister has categorically denied being warned that a drinks party in the downing street garden during the first lockdown in may 2020 was against the covid rules. his former chief adviser, dominic cummings, has said he raised concerns with borisjohnson about it at the time and has now accused him of misleading mps. the latest is that dominic cummings will be approached by sue gray, the senior civil servant investigating downing street parties, to give evidence as she continues her inquiry. also today, the mp for bury south, christian wakeford, has become the latest conservative known to have submitted a letter of no confidence in