Former minister Andrea Leadsom has criticised Prime Minister Boris Johnson following the publication of the Sue Gray report.
In a letter to her constituents, published on social media, Dame Andrea said she believed it is “extremely unlikely that senior leaders were unaware of what was going on.”
“I therefore agree with Sue Gray’s conclusions that there have been significant failures of leadership, both political and official, in No 10 and the Cabinet Office,” she wrote.
Andrea Leadsom
UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor
The Tory MP for South Northamptonshire added: “Each of my Conservative MP colleagues and I must now decide individually on what the right course of action that will restore confidence in our Government.”
Dame Andrea did not call for Mr Johnson to resign in her letter.
This marks a u-turn for Ms Leadsom who only last week backed the Prime Minister.
She previously said: "I sincerely hope that tomorrow we can put it behind us and move on."
Her intervention is a further blow to Mr Johnson as a steady stream of Tory MPs have been calling on the Prime Minister to stand down in the wake of Ms Gray’s report last week.
A committed Brexiteer, Dame Andrea backed Mr Johnson for the leadership in 2019 after pulling out of the contest herself, underlining the fact that discontent with the Prime Minister extends across the party.