Standards adviser Boris Johnson is about to resign over an apartment in Downing Street

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The Telegraph understands that Lord Gedet has asked the Prime Minister and Lord Brownlow to provide an explanation as soon as Friday as to why the WhatsApp messages were not disclosed as well as other evidence when he looked into the matter.

If Lord Geddt, the Queen’s former private secretary, does not receive what he considers to be a satisfactory explanation, the Telegraph understands he is likely to resign because he would not be able to do his job if the bond of trust between him and Mr Johnson were to be broken.

Separately, there is growing speculation that Catherine Stone, Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, will now launch her own investigation into Mr Johnson.

While Ms Stone’s office declined to comment, Labor wrote to the commissioner asking for an investigation, with parliamentary sources suggesting a decision on whether to announce it early next week.

After the results of its inquiry were published, the Election Commission said the Conservatives had failed to fully report a £67,000 donation from Huntswood Associates Limited, a company controlled by Lord Brownlow.

While the Conservatives reported only £15,000, the commission said the remaining £52,000 which was used to fund the renovation of the apartment in No. 11 Downing Street should have been disclosed. It concluded that this amounted to a violation of the law regarding donation reporting, and represented “serious failures” in the party’s “compliance systems”.

It comes eight months after the investigation was first launched against the backdrop of a spate of reports about the lavish apartment renovation and increased scrutiny over the failure of the Conservative Party and Mr Johnson to record the money in public transparency records.

The report found Lord Brownlow paid a total of £112,549 to renovate the apartment. It also revealed that in October last year a junior member of the Conservative Party staff asked for £52,801 that had not been declared by the party, and was told: ‘Don’t worry’.

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