LONDON (Dispatches) -- Five aides to Boris Johnson resigned from Number 10 within hours of each other as pressure grows on the prime minister.
Elena Narozanski, a special adviser at the No 10 policy unit, was the latest to quit her position, the Conservative Home website reported.
Her departure on Friday follows the resignation of four key No 10 officials on Thursday including policy chief Munira Mirza, who worked for Johnson for 14 years.
This was followed by chief of staff Dan Rosenfield, Martin Reynolds, Johnson’s principal private secretary, and director of communications Jack Doyle.
The three men were embroiled in the “partygate” scandal and energy minister Greg Hands suggested their departure from government were linked to a clear-out after civil servant Sue Gray’s inquiry into the allegations.
Mirza quit in anger over the prime minister’s use of a “scurrilous” Jimmy Savile smear against Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.
Ministers have tried to argue the exodus is part of Johnson “taking charge” as he faces a potential leadership challenge amid allegations of rule-breaking parties in Downing Street.
Hands told Sky News: “The Prime Minister was absolutely clear on Monday that there would be changes at the top of No 10 and that is what he has delivered.
“The Sue Gray report update said that there were failings at the top of the operation. This is the Prime Minister taking charge.
“This is a wider issue than just the Sue Gray report. This is about saying we need changes at No 10, which is what the Prime Minister said on Monday.”
Greg Hands said there would be changes in Downing Street.
However, he did admit the resignation of Mirza, who is considered
 one of Johnson’s most loyal allies, was “different” to the others.
The departure of Reynolds had been anticipated after he invited at least 100 staff to a “bring your own booze” party in the Downing Street garden during the first lockdown.
Rosenfield is another whose resignation was expected after Gray criticized “failures of leadership” in her investigation update.
In a resignation speech to staff reported by his former employer the Daily Mail, Doyle, who headed up communications at No 10, said “recent weeks have taken a terrible toll on my family life”.
The departure of such senior aides has piled fresh pressure on the prime minister as he fights for survival, with 13 Conservative MPs publicly calling on him to resign.
More are believed to have done so privately but the number of letters to the chair of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tories has not yet hit the 54 required to trigger a no-confidence vote.