BORIS Johnson is in India this week as MPs will vote on Thursday on whether to open an investigation into the Prime Minister's alleged misleading of Parliament

If the Prime Minister loses the vote then he will come under increasing pressure to resign his position. With his fate hanging in the balance, some may be wondering why he has jetted off to India.

We’ve put together this handy explainer as to why the Prime Minister is away.

Why is Boris Johnson in India?

The Prime Minister is looking to broker a post-Brexit free trade deal with India, which he hopes will be completed “by the autumn” as he is looking to improve perceptions of his leadership in the wake of the partygate scandal.

The Prime Minister has indicated a deal will include accepting Delhi’s demands for an increase in migration to the UK, ahead of meeting his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.

Johnson had earlier put his target for a deal at the end of the year but appeared to shorten the timeframe during an interview in Gujarat, on the first day of his two-day visit to India.

However, Downing Street had not expressed confidence that a trade deal with India would be brokered this year, saying “we don’t want to sacrifice quality for speed”.

And in an interview with journalists flying with him to Gujarat, Johnson said the aim was to get a free trade deal “by the end of year”, before bringing the ambition forward.

“On immigration I’ve always been in favour of talented people coming to this country,” he added. “We have a massive shortage in the UK, not least in IT, in programmers, we’re short to the tune of hundreds of thousands in our economy.

“We need to have a progressive approach, and we will. But it’s got to be controlled.”

What concerns are being raised over the trip?

Johnson has vowed to press Modi for a reduction of fossil fuels from Vladimir Putin’s Russia during talks in Delhi, amid concerns he has not been critical enough of the invasion of Ukraine.

But the Prime Minister was facing renewed calls in India to speak up for minorities and democratic rights as he visited a JCB factory, while bulldozers are being used to tear down Muslim-owned properties in communal violence.

He indicated he would bring up those issues during talks with Modi, who is accused of damaging India’s democracy and of whipping up anti-Muslim sentiment.

The Prime Minister said: “We always raise the difficult issues, of course we do, but the fact is that India is a country of 1.35 billion people and it is democratic, it’s the world’s largest democracy.”

What is being voted on in the UK while he is away?

After receiving a fine from the Metropolitan Police for breaking his own lockdown rules, previous claims from the Prime Minister made in Parliament that there were no parties in Downing Street are under further scrutiny. 

If the Prime Minister is found to have intentionally misled Parliament, under constitutional conventions, he will be expected to resign.

While Johnson is out of the country, MPs will vote on Thursday on whether to open a Commons investigation into whether he lied to Parliament over the partygate scandal.