BORIS JOHNSON is expected to urge MPs to “move on” from the partygate scandal on Tuesday, despite becoming the first sitting prime minister to be criminally sanctioned.

As Parliament resumes following the Easter break, the PM is set to outline his “version of events” after last week’s fine for breaking Covid-19 lockdown rules by attending a Downing Street bash to mark his 56^th birthday in June 2020.

Indoor social gatherings for people from different households were illegal at the time as the country struggled to contain the first wave of coronavirus infections.

The Tory leader, who previously insisted that no lockdown rules were breached, will also reportedly address a meeting of the entire Conservative parliamentary party tonight after some of his own MPs joined calls from opposition parties for him to quit.

Police have been looking into 12 events in Downing Street and Whitehall in 2020 and 2021 and have so far announced more than 50 fines, with the investigation still ongoing.

Mr Johnson is understood to have been present at six of those gatherings, one of which was organised to mark the departure of his former director of communications, Lee Cain, on November 13 2020. 

Reports emerged over the weekend that the PM instigated leaving drinks at the event before allegedly heading to his flat above 11 Downing Street to attend a second gathering organised by his wife, Carrie, who has also received a fine. 

Labour shadow policing minister Sarah Jones said: “He lied repeatedly, he misled Parliament, he’s ripped up the ministerial code. 

“In Parliament, we need to be able to look those MPs in the eye and say every time you defend his lies, you debase the sacrifices that the British people went through.”