At prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, Johnson had dismissed the widespread calls to quit from within his own party and the opposition, vowing to “hang on in there”.

However, on Wednesday night the PM was visited by a number of high-level cabinet members including Nadhim Zahawi and Priti Patel, who reportedly told him to do the right thing and go now.

On 5 July, chancellor Rishi Sunak and health secretary Sajid Javid quit within minutes of each other, spurred on by the prime minister’s handling of sexual misconduct allegations against Tory MP Chris Pincher.

Downing Street had maintained that Johnson was not aware of specific allegations against Pincher before a top civil servant confirmed that he was briefed “in person” about an allegation of inappropriate behaviour against the disgraced MP back in 2019.

Boris Johnson is set to resign as prime minister following intense pressure from MPs