BOURNEMOUTH West MP Conor Burns has said no party leader has a “blank cheque” on his loyalty – but that he still believes the prime minister over the “partygate” affair.

Mr Burns, a minister for Northern Ireland, did a round of media interviews on Friday morning backing his friend Boris Johnson.

Mr Burns’s Bournemouth East counterpart, Tobias Ellwood, ealier said there had been a “huge breach of trust” with the British people over gatherings at Downing Street and that the Conservative Party needed a new leader.

Mr Burns, asked whether he could ever foresee calling for Mr Johnson to stand down, said: “No leader, however close I am to them or however much I consider them as a friend, has a blank cheque on my loyalty.

“My feeling with Boris, the prime minister, is that I think what he’s said and what he’s told the House of Commons at each stage has been told in good faith.”

The exchange came after MPs nodded through an opposition motion referring Mr Johnson to the Commons privileges committee.

Mr Burns said when the Sue Gray inquiry into the episode is published in full, the prime minister will be “able to speak more freely” and people “will see some degree of context”.

He added: “I just want the process to finish and if it turns out I’ve been misled or let down, I will draw conclusions and take actions. But at the moment I believe what the prime minister is saying, I believe what he’s told me and I believe he deserves the opportunity to try and rebuild the trust of the British people and get on with the job of delivering on the manifesto he was elected on just over two years ago.”

Mr Ellwood, who chairs the House of Commons defence committee, said there would be a “steady trickle” of letters from Conservative MPs calling for a party leadership contest.

“We must stop drinking the Kool-Aid that’s encouraging us to think this is all going to disappear and that we can all move on,” he told Sky News.

“I’m afraid the absence of discipline, of focus and leadership in Number 10 during that lockdown period has led to a huge breach of trust with the British people.

“So it’s beholden upon all Conservative MPs then to take matters into their own hands, and I think this is where things will go, particularly as we have more bad news to follow.”

During a trip to India for trade talks with prime minister Narendra Modi, Mr Johnson said he would still be in office by Diwali in October – the date he set as the target date for a trade deal with India.