Boris Johnson is expected to tell police that he was at as many as six Downing Street parties – which were ‘part of his working day’.

The Prime Minister has been dogged by allegations of lockdown-busting allegations in Number 10 and is being investigated as part of a Met Police probe.

Now, having been sent a questionnaire by officers, Mr Johnson is set to admit to attending some, but will argue he was at work, reports suggest.

The PM’s future could hinge on whether police fine him over the incidents, which have sparked outrage from across the political spectrum and among the public.

Some 90 questionnaires are being sent out to various people linked to Downing Street, according to The Times, which reported that the PM would acknowledge attending half a dozen events.

The paper also commissioned a YouGov poll which found that seven in ten people think the prime minister should quit if he is handed a fixed penalty notice – but only 16 per cent of voters think he will.

The Prime Minister is widely thought to have appointed a private lawyer to help him fight the case.

A source told The Times: ‘Saying goodbye to staff is part of working life.’

And Tory MPs could say farewell to Mr Johnson permanently, if 54 of them write to 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady – and more than half subsequently turn against him in a vote of no confidence.

Fifteen Tory MPs have publicly called for Mr Johnson to quit, while far more are thought to have privately written letters calling for a no-confidence vote.

More are poised to do so if further damaging revelations or police fines emerge.

Yet despite the turmoil, a cabinet minister insisted yesterday that Mr Johnson is ‘absolutely focused on the job’.

Scotland Yard says the questionnaires ask for an ‘account and explanation of the recipient’s participation in an event’ and have ‘formal legal status and must be answered truthfully’.

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis insisted the PM will ‘fight’ and win the next general election – even as Tory MPs consider forcing a vote to oust him as leader.

Calls for his resignation will only grow if Mr Johnson is found to have broken his own Covid laws, and if Sue Gray’s subsequent inquiry or further leaks reveal new damaging details, potentially including pictures of the events.

But Mr Lewis told told Sky’s Trevor Phillips On Sunday: ‘The investigation is a matter for the police, I’m not going to put time frames on them, they’ve got to be able to do their job independently, autonomously and see that through.

‘I have to say in the dealings I’ve had with the Prime Minister he’s absolutely focused on the job in hand, about what he’s doing for the British people.’

Mr Lewis added: ‘He has my absolute 100%-plus loyalty.

‘I think this a Prime Minister is doing things for our country, he’s got the big decisions right.

‘I think he will fight and he will win as a result of the next general election.’

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister’s new chief of staff, Steve Barclay, yesterday claimed it is a ‘priority to restore a smaller state’ as the threat from Covid eases, in a clear bid to keep backbenchers on side.

Mr Barclay, who was handed the role as part of the shake-up of No 10 in response to the partygate scandal, said he would ‘make the centre of Government work like the best-run companies’, in an article for The Sunday Telegraph.

No 10 said the Prime Minister is to start the week with a visit to a manufacturing site in Scotland, while there are major fears that the ongoing Ukraine crisis could escalate into a war.

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