Boris Johnson is facing increasing pressure from MPs in his own party who are angry at how the government dramatically cancelled the Christmas plans for millions of people.  

One senior Conservative MP even accused ministers of avoiding parliamentary scrutiny by delaying the announcement until the Commons had closed for the festive period.

Others called for parliament to be recalled to debate the new measures, which could see many living under new tougher tier 4 restrictions for months.  

Ministers insist they acted swiftly after they were informed of how contagious a new strain of the disease was on Friday.  

By Saturday afternoon the prime minister had issued stay at home orders to millions and cancelled plans to allow others to spend up to five days together in a Christmas “bubble”.  

But Sir Charles Walker, the vice chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, said he believed ministers knew before Friday that they planned to bring in the new restrictions.  

He also called on whoever was responsible to resign.  

“The government, in my view, knew on Thursday, possibly even Wednesday, that they were going to pull the plug on Christmas but they waited till parliament had gone,” he told BBC Radio 4's The World at One.

“That, on top of everything else, is a resigning matter. I am not asking for the government to collapse. I am asking for a secretary of state to take some responsibility.”

Sir Charles suggested ministers wanted to avoid allowing MPs to examine the new controls.  

Just a few weeks ago Mr Johnson was forced to back down in the face of growing parliamentary pressure over his plans to extended tiers in England, promising MPs a second vote in February on whether or not they will last until March.

The health secretary, Matt Hancock, appearing on BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show, said he did not intend to resign.  

“I know that Charles is very upset at the measures that we've had to bring in, and he has been [upset] throughout. I understand that and I understand where he's coming from,” he said.

“But unfortunately these measures are absolutely necessary to save lives.”

Mark Harper, the chair of the Covid Recovery Group of Tory MPs, called for the changes to be put to a vote in parliament at the “earliest opportunity”, even if that was in the next few days.