British Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks at a COVID-19 press conference in the Downing Street media briefing room in London, Britain, Dec. 15, 2021. Britain reported 78,610 new coronavirus cases, the highest daily number since the start of the pandemic, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 11,010,286, according to official figures released Wednesday. (Simon Dawson/No. 10 Downing Street/Handout via Xinhua)

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson witnessed weekly drinking sessions by his staff throughout the pandemic, according to a report Saturday that stoked fresh calls from his own party for the embattled leader to quit.

Conservative MPs, many of whom were spending the weekend in their home constituencies, say they are being deluged with messages from voters outraged at accounts of rule-breaking in Downing Street.

Johnson was spending the weekend in self-isolation after a family member tested positive for COVID-19. The opposition Labour party said he was "literally in hiding."

Former Conservative minister Tobias Ellwood, an influential backbench MP, told the BBC that Johnson must "lead or step aside."

Whether Johnson and his staff knowingly broke the law during COVID-19 lockdowns is the central question being addressed in an inquiry by senior civil servant Sue Gray, who could report back next week. 

Johnson this week apologized in parliament for at least one boozy event organized by his staff which he attended in May 2020, when Britons were banned from socializing.

Two other parties were held in April 2021 as Queen Elizabeth II prepared to bury Prince Philip, her husband of 73 years. Downing Street sent apologies to Buckingham Palace, calling them "deeply regrettable."

But those were not isolated events, according to a report from Daily Mirror on Saturday which published a photograph of a wine cooler being delivered to a Downing Street back door in December 2020. 

It said staff would stock the fridge with suitcase-loads of alcohol, and Johnson would often drop by to their "Wine time Fridays." "The idea that he didn't know there were drinks is total nonsense," the newspaper quoted one staffer as saying. 

In response, a Downing Street spokesperson said the government was awaiting Gray's inquiry "to establish the facts around the nature of gatherings" during the pandemic.

But at least five Conservative MPs say publicly that they have already filed letters demanding a vote of no confidence in the prime minister.

A total of 54 letters from Tory lawmakers are needed to trigger a vote. The Daily Telegraph newspaper said about 20 have been handed in so far.

After the Mirror report, Conservative backbencher Andrew Bridgen said Johnson had "lost the moral authority to lead." He had presided over a staff culture of "one rule for them, and the rest of us do as we're told," Bridgen told BBC television.

Most cabinet members have rallied round Johnson but the support of some, including finance minister Rishi Sunak, has been distinctly lukewarm.

Pensions minister Guy Opperman broke ranks to argue that Prime Minister "needs to change his ways." 

AFP