Meanwhile, a “defiant” Mr Johnson told Tory MPs to “form a square” around Priti Patel on Friday after an inquiry found the home secretary had bullied senior officials, the Times reports. Citing two senior Whitehall sources, the paper says Mr Johnson had attempted – and failed – to convince Sir Alex Allan, who carried out the report, to water down his findings. The paper says the PM’s comments rallying around Ms Patel were made in a private WhatsApp group. Sir Alex resigned after his findings were published and Mr Johnson made clear he would not accept them.