Boris’s plea to MPs on Partygate: Have some perspective
BORIS Johnson will issue a ‘plea for perspective’ over Partygate to MPs today at the start of a crunch week for his premiership.
The Prime Minister is ‘adamant’ he did not intentionally mislead the Commons when he said ‘no rules were broken’ after reports of the lockdown events emerged.
Close allies have put the blame squarely at the feet of two of his most senior aides at the time – both of whom have since left Downing Street as part of a clearout by the PM.
Mr Johnson will make a Commons statement this afternoon on Ukraine, the new energy strategy and the Partygate saga.
‘He will appeal to colleagues to have a sense of perspective about what really matters at the moment,’ a Government spokesman said last night.
‘Anyone who thinks the most significant thing that happened over the last two weeks was him getting a £50 fine is not living in the real world.
‘There’s a war in Ukraine, he’s been to Kyiv, he’s seen Zelensky and he’s focused on the next stage in what will undoubtedly be a fierce and brutal battle by a desperate Putin.
‘Since Parliament last met he’s announced a long-term energy strategy, he’s now going to be focusing really hard that it is delivered – and there’s the small boats policy. He is adamant that whatever he has said in the House he has said in good faith.’
The PM was last week fined by the Metropolitan Police for attending a birthday bash held for him in the Cabinet Room in June 2020 while Covid restrictions were in place.
While some dissenting voices have since emerged, many of his toughest critics on the back benches have said ousting him amid the Ukraine crisis would be a mistake.
Last night a friend likened his response to the fine to being on the rugby field.
‘As any sportsman knows, there are times when you feel the referee has been a bit
‘Don’t quarrel with the ref’
harsh but you don’t quarrel with the ref – you get on with the game and you do what you can do,’ they said.
Opposition MPs have asked Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to allow a vote on whether Mr Johnson’s previous comments were in contempt of Parliament.
A vote could come as early as tomorrow if Sir Lindsay agrees. But it is unlikely that the PM would be held in contempt given the Government’s majority.
It comes ahead of his trip to India this week for talks with prime minister Narendra Modi on defence, security and economic cooperation.
Partygate led to a brief rift between Mr Johnson and Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross.
When details of the Downing Street parties emerged, Mr Ross called for the PM’s resignation and had written to the party’s 1922 committee in a bid to trigger a leadership contest. However, he later withdrew his no confidence letter and urged his party to back Mr Johnson during the Ukraine crisis.
Last week, Mr Ross accused First Minister Nicola Sturgeon of using Partygate as a smokescreen to cover her own record of public service failures after she called for Mr Johnson to resign in the wake of the scandal. Mr Ross had said: ‘It is no wonder Nicola Sturgeon is looking for a smokescreen because her own record in government is one she can surely not defend.’
Meanwhile, Mr Ross’s predecessor Ruth Davidson said that he had been put in a ‘terrible’ situation as a result of partygate.
She added: ‘And as someone that was the leader for eight years, I know what it is like to be dumped in it by colleagues down south.’
‘What really matters’