It will only take 54 letters, Donuel, but getting them is not that easy. After Johnson's performance yesterday, everything hinges on Sue Gray's report. If she says the March 20th event was not a party, the general public will look at that, look at the text of the email, and conclude the report is a whitewash. That may well get the PM through to at least the May elections, but I would expect many MPs to be very nervous of how their voters would react.

I think what she needs to do, from the government's point of view, is to build a case that the event was a party and Johnson was remiss in attending, but his error in thinking it a working event is plausible. She also needs to demonstrate somehow that the 'we' who thought a party a good idea did not include the Prime Minister. But it must always be remembered that ignorance is no defence against the law, so that is a very shaky platform to stand on.

I read reports that there are some concerns Johnson could veto the report. That would seem very counter-productive to me: it would convince everyone there was something to hide and the MPs could anticipate fury from their constituents. The same would apply if the report was redacted.