Tory sources say war with Dominic Cummings may lead to Boris Johnson's demise

Reports highlighted the crisis which is gripping the Prime Minister as his former chief aide prepares a dossier of evidence that will attempt to blame Johnson personally for the tens of thousands of deaths during the second wave of the pandemic.

As leaks and sleaze allegations threaten to engulf the Prime Minister, one Conservative friend told the Sunday Times: “I think we are now looking at the end of Boris" adding that his future as PM "depends on the polls”.

The paper added: "Johnson’s numbers remain buoyant. But voters hate chaos and division and Tory MPs dislike melodrama."

And one Downing Street insider told the newspaper: “After the departure of his closest aides last year, the prime minister has become increasingly isolated and paranoid. He has become known in some circles as the King Lear Prime Minister and we all know how that ended up.”

Cummings is expected to use a select committee appearance before MPs next month to criticise his former boss for failures that have given Britain one of the worst death tolls in Europe.

Over the weekend, Cummings launched a fresh attack on the Prime Minister, suggesting the Government had been too slow to shut the borders when the pandemic began.

The former No 10 aide, who is seeking an urgent parliamentary inquiry into the response to the pandemic, appeared to criticise ministers for failing to introduce travel bans for more than nine months after the virus came to Britain.

He tweeted that this was a “very important issue re learning from the disaster”, in response to a thread pointing at how Vietnam had insulated itself and limited its death toll to just 35.

No 10 aides fear that Cummings has nothing to lose in his battle. “Dominic has copies of everything and knows where all the bodies are buried,” an ally of Cummings told the Sunday Times.

“He was pushing the Prime Minister hard to lock down sooner in the autumn and he has lots of evidence that shows that his decision to delay led to devastating consequences.”

On Friday Cummings launched an extraordinary attack on the Prime Minister, accusing him of quashing a leak inquiry to protect his fiancee Carrie Symonds and of "possibly illegal" plans over the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat.

In a 1000-word blog post, Johnson's former chief adviser claimed that the Cabinet Secretary had identified Henry Newman, then an aide to Michael Gove and "best friend" of Symonds, as the source of a damaging leak which forced England into lockdown last October.

He alleged that the Prime Minister then personally asked him if it was possible to stop the leak inquiry because it would cause him "very serious problems" with his fiancée.

Cummings accused the Prime Minister of "possibly illegal" behaviour over allegations he had drawn up plans for Conservative Party donors to pay for the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat.

"The PM stopped speaking to me about this matter in 2020 as I told him I thought his plans to have donors secretly pay for the renovation were unethical, foolish, possibly illegal and almost certainly broke the rules on proper disclosure of political donations if conducted in the way he intended," the former adviser said on Friday.

Cummings, who was forced out of Downing Street last year, called for an inquiry into the Government’s conduct during the pandemic and says he is prepared to publish all his emails and messages in relation to his work with the Prime Minister.

"It is sad to see the PM and his office fall so far below the standards of competence and integrity the country deserves," he said.

The broadside came within hours newspapers disclosing that senior Number 10 sources were blaming Cummings for a series of damaging leaks of the Prime Minister's messages to businessman Sir James Dyson and Mohammad Bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia.

On Tuesday, the BBC published text messages between Johnson and Dyson, in which the Prime Minister agreed to "fix" concerns the businessman had over his employees' tax bills if they moved to the UK to make ventilators at the start of the pandemic.

Johnson was also sent a text message by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as a bid to buy Newcastle United when it ran into difficulties last June.

In a statement released Friday night, Cummings denied being the source of leaks about Dyson, and said he was not a so-called "chatty rat" who leaked details of England's second lockdown last autumn.

Number 10 has hit back, denying that any rules had been broken or that Johnson had intervened in the leak inquiry.

On the flat allegation, the Number Ten spokesman said: “At all times, the Government and ministers have acted in accordance with the appropriate codes of conduct and electoral law. Cabinet Office officials have been engaged and informed throughout and official advice has been followed.

He added: "The PM has never interfered in a government leak inquiry."

Downing Street has also denied that Newman leaked details of the lockdown.

A senior government source told the Telegraph on Friday: “The allegations against Henry Newman are entirely false. He wouldn’t be working in Downing Street if he was suspected of leaking information.”

Labour has today called on the Electoral Commission to mount a full investigation over who paid for the work to Johnson's flat.

Deputy leader Angela Rayner said there was a "real stench" around the Government and called on Johnson to go to Parliament on Monday to explain what happened.

International Trade Secretary Liz Truss - who is the first minister to speak publicly since Cummings issued his incendiary claims on Friday - dismissed the allegations as "tittle tattle".

"I have been assured that the rules have been fully complied with and I know that he has met the costs of the flat refurbishment," she told Sky News' Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme.

"I absolutely believe and trust that the Prime Minister has done that.

"What people want to know is that in line with the rules the Prime Minister has met the cost of this refurbishment. That has happened. All the costs will be declared in line with the rules.

"That, as far as I am concerned, completely answers that question."

Meanwhile, a majority of people think Johnson's behaviour over the Tory sleaze scandal is "unacceptable" - according to a new poll by Opinium for the Observer.

The poll, published today, reveals 37% of people across the UK think Johnson is "corrupt" - rising to 53% of people in Scotland.

Around the same proportion view the Tory party as "corrupt", including 38% of people across the UK and 52% of people in Scotland.

On the Dyson 'texts for contracts' affair, 55% of people across the UK say Boris Johnson's behaviour is "unacceptable" rising to around two-thirds (65%) of people in Scotland.

SNP Westminster Deputy Leader Kirsten Oswald MP said: "Boris Johnson's botched attempt to distract voters from the Tory sleaze scandal has failed - with a majority of Scots viewing his behaviour as 'completely unacceptable' and 'corrupt'.

"Taxpayers have a right to know why multi-million pound contracts, special access, tax breaks and peerages are being handed out to Tory donors and friends like sweeties.

 "It absolutely reeks of Tory cronyism and sleaze. Serious accusations of impropriety and possible illegality have been made, and only a full independent public inquiry can provide the transparency and accountability needed, with those responsible held to account.

"It's no wonder that people in Scotland want to get away from the broken Westminster system. Many will conclude the Tories and Westminster establishment are only in it for themselves."