Red card for PM if code has been broken – Ross

Boris Johnson should quit if he has broken the ministerial code, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives has said, as how renovations to the prime minister’s Downing Street flat were paid for are investigated.

Douglas Ross said Mr Johnson should “of course” go if probes find he breached the code over declaring donations.

But the prime minister is “ultimate arbitrator” of the code, a situation Labour says allows him to be his own “judge and jury”.

A string of claims may be hurting the Tories ahead of Thursday’s vote as new claims over donations emerge.

Mr Ross, quizzed by the BBC’s Andrew Marr, said: “I think people expect the highest standards of those in the highest office of the land, that’s why I think people are looking at the investigations that are currently ongoing and waiting for the answers.”

The Electoral Commission is investigating whether any donations or loans to pay for the refurbishment of No 11 were properly declared.

New standards adviser Lord Geidt has been tasked with looking at the controversy in a probe expected to touch on any breach of the code.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab defended Mr Johnson yesterday but declined to say whether he should resign if found to have broken the law.

He also declined to deny a claim that a second bill for renovations to No 11 may have been settled by a Tory donor.

Asked about a suggestion in The Sunday Times that a donor complained to an MP that they were asked to pay for a nanny for Mr Johnson’s son he said: “I have no idea, you don’t have conversations like that with the PM.”

A No 10 spokeswoman said the prime minister “has covered the cost of all childcare” but did not respond when asked if he paid the original bill or had reimbursed somebody else.

Mr Raab backed the Electoral Commission as some backbench Tories called for reform.

“I trust it to look at these things in the right way,” he said.

Mr Johnson has also been forced to deny saying he would rather see “bodies pile high” than impose a third Covid lockdown, on top of a lobbying row and allegations of cronyism.

Two new polls ahead of local votes in England and elections for the Scottish and Welsh parliaments show the Tories slipping.

They fell to a five-point lead over Labour, 42% to 37%, according to an Opinium poll of more than 2,000 adults last week.

That put the Tories down two points and Labour up four on the week earlier.

Focaldata put Labour on 39%, one behind the Tories.

Mr Johnson has denied breaking any laws over the refurbishment and said he had paid “personally”.

But he refuses to say whether he received an initial loan from his party.

GAME OVER?: Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross, at an election campaign event in Glasgow, said Boris Johnson must stand by the probes’ findings.