The Privileges Committee will ultimately decide whether or not Johnson misled the House of Commons about his actions and in turn, whether or not he is found in contempt of Parliament. This will then be put to the House of Commons for a vote.

If Johnson were found in contempt and were still in government, this would amount to a breach of the Ministerial Code. Typically, a breach would mean the resignation of a minister. As a backbench MP, it is unclear what punishment would befall Johnson, though there will be huge pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to discipline him in some way.

Johnson and his allies have dismissed the report’s credibility, claiming that it is based on the evidence of a senior civil servant, Sue Gray, who in recent days has been linked with a job working for the leader of the official opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer.

However, this narrative has already been knocked down by a spokesperson for the Privileges Committee, who said: “The committee’s report is not based on the Sue Gray report. The committee’s report is based on evidence in the form of: material supplied by the government to the committee in November, including communications such as WhatsApps, emails, and photographs from the official downing street photographer,” and “evidence from witnesses who were present either at the time of the gatherings or at the time of preparation for Boris Johnson’s statements to parliament. Sue Gray was present at neither and is not one of those witnesses.”