Boris Johnson will face a Commons vote on whether claims that he misled MPs over partygate should be investigated.
Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle granted a request from opposition MPs for a vote which will be held on Thursday – and which Sky News understands will seek to refer Mr Johnson for investigation by the privileges committee.
It comes as the PM prepares to face Parliament for the first time since he was fined last week for attending a gathering to mark his birthday in June 2020, in breach of his own government’s social distancing rules.
The debate will centre on the question of whether Mr Johnson misled MPs when he initially said, after claims about parties in Downing Street first surfaced, that no rules were broken.
It will take place at a time when the prime minister himself is scheduled to be away on a visit to India.
Sir Lindsay told MPs that it was not for him “to determine whether or not the prime minister has committed a contempt” but rather whether there was “an arguable case to be examined”.
The Speaker ruled, having considered the issue, that Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer could table a motion for debate.
Labour sources say that the committee has wide-ranging powers which may mean it could ask for civil servant Sue Gray’s yet-to-be-published report into the affair as well as photos, and that it has the power to recommend sanctions.