Lawyers for the First Division Association union sent a pre-action notice to Downing Street on Wednesday, accusing the Prime Minister of acting unlawfully when he chose to stand by his home secretary and overrule his independent adviser.
The letter accuses Johnson of “setting a damaging precedent which gives carte blanche to the kind of unacceptable conduct which the Home Secretary was found to have committed”.
The union hopes the letter is the first step towards a judicial review of Johnson’s decision. The Government has so far refused to make public the full Cabinet Office investigation led by Sir Alex.