Boris Johnson is facing calls from senior Tories to stand down as prime minister after he admitted attending a drinks party during lockdown.

The PM apologised for the way he had handled the event in the Downing Street garden in 2020 and said he understood the public's "rage" over it.

"He is the prime minister, it is his government that put these rules in place, and he has to be held to account for his actions," he said.

Ministers have urged MPs to wait for the outcome of an investigation into alleged Covid-rule breaking at Downing Street parties by senior civil servant Sue Gray, which they say will be published shortly.

And fellow Tory Caroline Nokes, who chairs another Commons committee, said the prime minister should resign now as he was "damaging the entire Conservative brand".

A pause until the official inquiry into what parties did or didn't take place in Downing Street is published, in perhaps a week or so.

But for many on his own side, Boris Johnson has already lost the benefit of the doubt.

He admitted he was at the 20 May 2020 gathering for about 25 minutes, so that he could "thank groups of staff" for their hard work.

Dan Poulter, who also works as a psychiatrist, said: "I am pleased that the prime minister has apologised, but it's not much consolation to those of us who cared for patients on the frontline of the NHS and saw them die of Covid".

He said detailed claims about the 20 May party were being investigated by Sue Gray and the prime minister would update the Commons once she had finished her work.

Boris Johnson announced a plan to take the “first careful steps" out of the lockdown that began in March 2020.

A photo from May 2020 showed the prime minister and his staff with bottles of wine and a cheeseboard in the Downing Street garden.

When asked about it, Boris Johnson said, “those people were at work talking about work”.

Boris Johnson has confirmed he attended the event, saying he was there for 25 minutes and “believed implicitly that this was a work event”.

Boris Johnson announced plans for a “significant return to normality" in England by Christmas "through targeted, local action” instead of national lockdowns.

With cases of coronavirus rising again, the prime minister told people in England that “we are once again asking you to stay at home” as a new national lockdown began.

He said people should only leave their homes “for work if you can’t work from home, for education, and for essential activities and emergencies”.

Sources told the BBC that Downing Street staff members attended a gathering with Carrie Johnson in the flat where she and the prime minister live.

The second national lockdown ended after four weeks but Boris Johnson replaced those restrictions with “tough tiers to keep this virus down”

15 December 2020

A photo - published by the Sunday Mirror - showed Boris Johnson taking part and sitting between two colleagues in No 10

16 December 2020

18 December 2020