This is from the report:
"Martin Reynolds, the prime minister’s principal private secretary, is said to have given 'candid' evidence to Gray, which could prove pivotal to Johnson’s future. 'Reynolds is not willing to be the fall guy in all of this,' one government source said."
I think it’s convincing because it confirms what a lot of other people have said about Johnson over the years. The nearer you get to him the less you like him. Nobody in Downing is closer to the PM than his PPS.
And if I were Mr Reynolds I certainly wouldn’t have my reputation trashed for a man generally regarded as not fit to hold any kind of high public office.
If it emerges that Johnson knew about or even instigated the party or was warned by more than one person that it went against the rules and yet told MPs in the House that there were no parties, no rules were broken and nobody warned in advance, we may get a vote of confidence as early as February. The utterly deluded occupant of No 10 is determined to battle on through it.
In a sign of how the mood is changing, Downing Street now expects Gray’s report to be much more damaging than they did a few days ago and have started to prepare for the inevitable vote of confidence.
Just how desperate things have got can be seen in the news that Nigel Adams has been drafted in to shore up the prime minister’s position:
"The campaign to save Johnson is being led by three former whips — Chris Pincher, Chris Heaton Harris and Nigel Adams — who have always been loyal to Johnson. They have been joined by Conor Burns, who was Johnson’s parliamentary private secretary when he was foreign secretary. The operation is understood to be separate from the government whips’ office that has been carrying out its own survey of MPs, though it meets frequently in the office of Mark Spencer, the chief whip."