TORIES are at war as MPs face a vote on a damning report that found Boris Johnson deliberately misled Parliament with “partygate” denials.

Rishi Sunak has been left a lame duck prime minister expected to “fail to rise to the occasion” by abstaining from endorsing the findings on his predecessor.

Conservative MPs were meanwhile warned they could face battles with their local parties if they endorse the privilege committee’s findings ahead of a free vote on Monday.

Today Downing Street maintained Mr Sunak had not had time to digest the report.

Senior Conservative MP Damian Green said: “Deliberately abstaining is not really rising to the importance of the occasion” and that he intended to back the findings with a “heavy heart.”

Former Cabinet minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, a staunch ally of Mr Johnson, added he believes Mr Sunak would abstain and described the 90-day suspension recommendation for Mr Johnson as “vindictive.”

Liz Truss, who spent 49 days in No 10 after succeeding Mr Johnson as Tory leader, said that preventing him from holding a parliamentary pass would be a “very harsh decision.”

Sir Jake Berry, a former Tory party chairman who is a close ally of Mr Johnson, said he will “certainly be one of those in the No lobby opposing this report, because I think both the conclusions and, to some extent, the way the committee was made up in terms of this report are wrong.”

Former Cabinet minister Nadine Dorries, who had also announced she was going to resign, is staying on while she seeks to investigate how she was denied a seat in the Lords as part of the former prime minister’s honours list.

She warned that any Tory MPs who endorsed the privileges committee’s report on Monday were not “true Conservatives” and would be “held to account by members and the public.”

The sanctions proposed by the Tory-majority committee are expected to pass.

Mr Sunak is fearful of upsetting his former boss’s remaining fanbase in his party while also wanting to avoid allegations that he is too weak to stand up to him.

Mr Johnson’s exit from Parliament has left the Tories with a tricky by-election in Uxbridge and South Ruislip on July 20, with Labour hopeful of gaining the west London seat.

Another by-election on the same date, triggered by Tory Nigel Adams who was denied a peerage in Mr Johnson’s resignation honours list, will take place in Selby and Ainsty.