Analysis: backbenchers are rebelling and rivals are circling but the PM must still face North Shropshire voters and the verdicts of Case and Geidt
As Boris Johnson made a last minute appeal to grumpy backbenchers in a wood-panelled Westminster committee room late on Tuesday, journalists listening outside heard a noisy round of desk-banging, in what sounded like a show of support for the embattled prime minister.
Yet little more than an hour later, the idea he had rallied MPs behind him was exposed as a sham, as 100 Conservatives trooped through the “no” lobby, to oppose Covid passes – a measure he had insisted was essential to tackling the pandemic.
