Boris Johnson faces a confidence vote today against the background of law-breaking in Number 10, cover-ups and bad results in the local government elections.

The Conservatives were all but wiped out in Richmond with the result the party was left with just one councillor.

The pressure was turned up over the weekend after the Prime Minister was booed when arriving at St Paul's Cathedral by patriotic crowds celebrating the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.

It would need 180 Conservative MPs to vote against Johnson this evening to trigger a leadership contest. Critics appear to be hamstrung by a lack of an obvious replacement with Liz Truss the current favourite.

Both the local MPs, Sarah Olney and Munira Wilson, have been calling for Johnson to go for weeks.

It is widely believed that Johnson will win the confidence vote this evening – with the result due to come in by around 8pm. However, depending on the scale of the rebellion, he could be fatally undermined.

Speaking last week, Sarah Olney, the Richmond Park MP, said Johnson's leadership 'has been an absolute disaster for this country'.

She said: "His self-indulgence and refusal to resign has hampered our ability to address the cost of living crisis and climate change. The longer he stays in post, the people of Britain suffer."

She said it may be that the longer Johnson stays in power the better it is for the Lib-Dems in winnable seats in the south of England. A number of Conservative MPs with small majorities in London and the South have signalled they have no confidence in the Prime Minister.

However, the MP said: "As a constituency MP I find it incredibly depressing. We have such poor governance and government in this country at the moment and it is creating real problems for my constituents.

Twickenham MP, Munira MP, said she has been contacted by dozens of local people to voice their hurt and anger about the situation at the heart of the government.

She said: "Whatever your political views – and even if you felt the rule-breaking was minor in the grand scheme of things – for me it is the complete lack of contrition shown by the Prime Minister, and the endless cover-ups over the past five months, that are so damaging to our democracy.

"At a time of a cost of living crisis at home and a war in Europe, we need leaders we can trust to take difficult and painful decisions, knowing they are acting in our best interests. That's why Boris Johnson has to go – or his MPs must remove him from office."

UPDATES:

9am

Cabinet members, including Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and Michael Gove, tweet in favour of Boris Johnson.

9.05am

Richmond Conservative, Pamela Fleming, who lost her South Richmond seat last month, re-tweeted Tory rebel MP, Tobias Ellwood, who has been calling on Johnson to go.

Mr Ellwood wrote: "We will lose the election if our policies appeal solely to our party base. Our party wants inspired leadership & a clear vision to follow rather than being followed."

9.10am

Levelling-up minister and Surrey MP, Michael Gove, tweets: "I'll be voting for Boris this evening. The PM got the big decisions right on Brexit and Covid. We need to focus now on defending Ukraine, driving levelling-up and generating growth. We need to move past this moment and unite behind Boris to meet these challenges."

9.36am

In theory, if Boris Johnson wins the confidence vote he cannot be challenged again for 12 months under the rules of the 1922 committee of backbench MPs. However, as the Prime Minister recently demonstrated with changes to the Ministerial Code and foreword,rules can be changed.

9.42am

Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt, who is touted as a future leader, tweets she is attending a service in Portsmouth this evening. Unlike her colleagues, there is no message of support for Johnson.

Former Conservative Treasury Minister, Jessie Norman MP, writes letter savaging Johnson government. He said the Sue Gray report showed Mr Johnson 'presided over a culture of casual law-breaking at 10 Downing Street'.

He described the Rwanda extradition policy for refugees as 'ugly'; the privatisation of Channel 4 'unnecessary and provocative'; and the ban on noisy protests something 'no genuinely Conservative government' should have introduced.

Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, said Conservative MPs must 'show some leadership' and vote against Boris Johnson.

Speaking to LBC Radio, he said: "I think they have got to show some leadership and vote against the Prime Minister. He has lost, I think, the trust of the country - that is pretty clear from the evidence that I have seen."

9.48am

Lib-Dem leader and Kingston MP, Ed Davey: "It's judgement day for Conservative MPs and their sleaze-ridden Prime Minister.

"If they fail to sack Boris Johnson, it will be an insult to all those who made sacrifices and suffered while he partied."