Truss goes on BBC to back Boris
... as another minister labels missing Rishi a ‘prancing pony’
LIZ Truss pleaded with mutinous Conservatives to see the bigger picture as grassroots members vented their fury at the Downing Street party scandal last night.
The Foreign Secretary launched an enthusiastic defence of Boris Johnson, declaring he had delivered Brexit, booster jabs and was getting Britain’s economy back on track.
Her decision to go on BBC News to pledge her loyalty came as Rishi Sunak continued to maintain a low profile. Both are said to be ‘on manoeuvres’ to succeed Mr Johnson.
The Chancellor has avoided conducting any television interviews in recent days as revelations over parties in No10 have continued to mount. He was in his constituency in North Yorkshire yesterday and is not expected to break his silence on camera this weekend.
Miss Truss yesterday said people should ‘move on’ after Mr Johnson apologised for attending a ‘bring your own booze’ party in the Downing Street garden in May 2020. Asked about questions over the PM’s ‘moral authority’, she told the BBC: ‘I do think we need to look at the overall position we’re in as a country: The fact that he has delivered Brexit, that we are recovering from Covid – we’ve got one of the fastest-growing economies now in the G7 and we’re delivering the booster programme.’
Miss Truss said she could ‘completely understand people’s anger and dismay about what has happened’, but she added she ‘100 per cent’ supports Mr Johnson ‘to continue getting on with the job’.
Downing Street is preparing for a difficult week ahead with fears Tory MPs could return to Westminster on Monday having spent the weekend being barracked by constituents over the row.
Local Tory chiefs yesterday raised concerns about how the scandal. Andrea Thorpe, chairman of the Maidstone and the Weald Conservative Association, told Radio 4’s PM programme: ‘Even if Boris wasn’t there, these parties have taken place under his leadership and somebody has to take the rap for it.’
So far Mr Sunak’s only comments on the scandal were in a tweet on Wednesday when he said that Mr Johnson was ‘right to apologise’. A minister yesterday told The Times: ‘He’s a prancing pony. It’s completely unacceptable. He, and everyone in the Cabinet, should be rowing in fully behind the Prime Minister.’
‘Somebody has to take the rap’