Sue Gray report delay concerns Tory rebels – follow live updates

A minister has insisted that the prime minister did not authorise the evacuation of animals from Afghanistan in the summer after the Taliban seized power.

This comes after a Foreign Office email appeared to suggest that Boris Johnson had granted approval.

Digital minister Chris Philip claimed the email was “mistaken”.

“I think he wasn’t involved in making individual decisions,” Mr Philip told Sky News.

“And we should also be clear, by the way, that the plane in which those people and animals came out on was not a plane that was commissioned or chartered by the UK government – it was done privately by donors.

“But I think the prime minister has made his position on this very clear – it wasn’t something he was personally involved in.”

The rescue of Pen Farthing’s animals was controversial because they were airlifted to safety while many Afghans who had helped Britain were unable to flee the country.

As we mentioned earlier, there is speculation that the prime minister may delay a planned rise in national insurance to consolidate his position.

As the partygate scandal shows no sign of abating, he is under increasing pressure from his backbenchers to scrap the hike, which they think will make the cost-of-living crisis worse.

On the issue, one government source told The Times: “He’s wobbling, I think he would do anything to survive.”

Another added: “It looks like [Johnson] is back-sliding because of the pressure he’s under on partygate.

“It has never been popular among the right of the party and it’s that group Boris is most worried about. The treasury view is that Johnson should hold his nerve.”

Boris Johnson has again fuelled speculation that he could scrap the National Insurance rise planned for April by refusing to guarantee it will go ahead.

The prime minister is coming under intense pressure to ditch or delay the 2.5 per cent hike, split between employees and employers, with reports suggesting many Tory backbenchers are making it a condition of their support in the expected confidence vote on his leadership.

Pressure on chancellor Rishi Sunak to scrap the rise heightened after official figures this week showed a £13bn windfall from lower-than-expected borrowing. Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng and leader of the Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg are understood to be among those urging him to use the additional leeway to ease pressure on households facing a cost-of-living crisis.

Our political editor, Andrew Woodcock, has the full story below:

Rebel Tory MPs are voicing concern that delays to Sue Gray’s crucial report on Downing Street parties may give Boris Johnson the chance to spin her findings in his favour.

They are worried that if she hands her report to No 10 on Friday – when Parliament is all but deserted as MPs visit their constituencies – the PM could delay publication to Monday while allies use the intervening time to plant stories in the weekend press putting the best possible gloss on its contents.

One told our political editor, Andrew Woodcock: “If they have it in their hands for three days before Boris has to make his statement to the House, there’s no doubt it’ll leak like a sieve and there’ll be an effort to control the narrative and suggest he’s in the clear.”