Why should we believe anything you say? It’s proven you are a habitual liar
PARTYGATE: MUMSNET RIPS INTO JOHNSON
– OPENING QUESTION FROM MUMSNET MEMBERS
BORIS Johnson faced more Partygate fury yesterday as he was asked: “Why should we believe anything you say when it has been proven you’re a habitual liar?”
Mumsnet founder Justine Roberts hit the Prime Minister with the question many wanted to ask as he continued to insist he had to stay on at No10 despite increasing calls for him to go.
Mr Johnson told her in an interview for the website: “First of all, I don’t agree with the conclusion of the question asked, the premise of the question.
“But I think the best way to answer that is to deliver on what I set out to do.”
Yet again citing the war in Ukraine and the cost-of-living crisis as reasons he should stay put, he said: “I’m still here because we’ve got huge pressures economically, we’ve got the biggest war in Europe for 80 years, and we’ve got a massive agenda to deliver which I was elected to deliver.
“I’ve thought about all these questions a lot... and I just cannot see how actually it would be responsible right now – given everything that is going on – simply to abandon the project which I embarked on.”
He even complained about the toll taken on the Government by the continuing scandal.
When it was suggested he had lost the public’s trust, he said: “Let’s see about that. I’m not going to deny the whole thing has been a totally miserable experience for people in Government and we’ve got to learn from it and understand the mistakes we made and we’ve got to move forward.”
Mr Johnson again apologised for the lockdown boozing in Downing Street, but said he had been “taken aback” to receive a fixed-penalty notice from
Corrosive culture and a failure of leadership allowed this
SIMON FELL TORY MP RAISES HIS CONCERNS
I just cannot see how it would be responsible right now, given all that’s going on
police over his Cabinet Room birthday bash in June 2020 because he did not think it was a party. He said: “It felt to me like a work event, I was there for a very short period of time... I was very, very surprised and taken aback to get an FPN but of course I paid it.”
Mr Johnson was keen to point out that he did not even eat any of his birthday cake at the event, which his wife Carrie and Chancellor Rishi Sunak were also fined for attending.
The PM is facing mounting pressure to step down from Tory MPs who have criticised his handling of the Partygate scandal.
Simon Fell, the Tory MP for Barrow and Furness, was the latest to raise concerns, criticising the “corrosive culture and a failure of leadership” under which such incidents were able to take place amid Covid restrictions.
Even his own ethics adviser Lord Geidt on Tuesday suggested the PM may have breached the ministerial code by being issued a fixed-penalty notice from the Metropolitan Police.
Lord Geidt, who is the independent adviser on ministers’ interests, threatened to quit unless Mr Johnson issued a public explanation over his conduct.
But Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said questions around whether the PM broke the ministerial code “have been answered”, as he backed Mr Johnson’s assertion that he did not intend to breach Covid laws. Almost 30 Tory MPs have publicly called on Mr Johnson to quit and dozens more have been fiercely critical of his leadership in public, including former cabinet minister Dame Andrea Leadsom.
Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, one of the PM’s most passionate supporters, claimed efforts to topple him are being co-ordinated by “one or two individuals” for reasons of “personal ambition”.
Top Tory backbencher Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, treasurer of the 1922 Committee, said Conservative MPs must consider which “crimes” Mr Johnson has “actually committed” before launching a leadership coup, and whether any replacement would be an improvement.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “You’ve got to actually work out whether that a new Prime Minister is actually going to be a positive asset to the country, compared to what you’ve got at the moment.”
Deputy PM Mr Raab has downplayed threats to the PM’s leadership, insisting there will be no leadership vote next week.
He said “the Westminster bubble” has been whipping up speculation on how many Tory MPs had called for the PM to go. The Tories have unleashed a wave of policies in an apparent bid to distract attention from their party’s row over the PM’s future.
As Lord Geidt threatened to quit, Home Secretary Priti Patel confirmed the first migrant removal flight to Rwanda will depart from the UK in two weeks. Hours later reports claimed Downing Street officials were considering Covid-style press conferences on the economy, with the PM and economic advisers set to discuss economic charts on TV. Yesterday the Government appeared to be preparing for an exhausting Queen’s Jubilee weekend of work events as crates of prosecco and lager from Sainsbury’s were seen being delivered to the Cabinet Office on Whitehall.
BORIS JOHNSON INSISTS HE SHOULD STAY IN HIS JOB DESPITE CALLS TO GO