Category Archives: boris johnson

Boris Johnson Urges Privileges Committee To Publish Their ‘Nonsense’

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Boris Johnson has called on the MPs investigating whether he lied to parliament over partygate to publish their “nonsense” straight away.

The former prime minister’s latest outburst came as it emerged publication of the privileges committee’s report had been delayed.

It had been expected that their findings would be released tomorrow and confirm that they had found Johnson guilty.

But it emerged this afternoon that the report may not now see the light of day until Thursday after Johnson – who quit as an MP on Friday after seeing an initial copy of the report – sent a letter to the committee on Monday night.

In a statement this evening, he said: “The privileges committee should publish their report and let the world judge their nonsense. They have no excuse for delay.

“Their absurdly unfair rules do not even allow any criticism of their findings.

“I have made my views clear to the committee in writing – and will do so more widely when they finally publish.”

Johnson has previously described the committee as a “kangaroo court” and accused them of carrying out a “witch hunt”.

In a lengthy statement, he said the committee’s report was “riddled with inaccuracies and reeks of prejudice” while providing him with “no formal ability to challenge anything they say”.

He said the panel of MPs had “still not produced a shred of evidence that I knowingly or recklessly misled the Commons”.

But he said he thought their “purpose from the beginning has been to find me guilty, regardless of the facts”.

“They know that I corrected the record as soon as possible; and they know that I and every other senior official and minister – including the current prime minister and then occupant of the same building, Rishi Sunak – believed that we were working lawfully together,” he said.

“I did not lie, and I believe that in their hearts the committee know it.”

As he is no longer an MP, the committee cannot suspend him from the Commons. However, they could recommend that he be denied a parliamentary pass, which is ordinarily given to former MPs.

It has also emerged that members of the committee have had to be given security after receiving abuse from Johnson supporters.

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Nadine Dorries Evokes Class Struggle In Attack On ‘Posh Boys’ Amid Peerage Row

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Nadine Dorries has drawn from her working-class upbringing as she claimed “posh boys” blocked her from taking a seat in the House of Lords.

The outgoing Tory MP hit out at prime minister Rishi Sunak and one of his closest advisers, James Forsyth, after she did not appear on ally Boris Johnson’s resignation nominations, prompting the former cabinet minister to announce she was quitting parliament.

Johnson also dramatically announced on Friday he was resigning after Dorries and others had apparently been shorn from the list.

The row has since descended into a public slanging match between Sunak and his predecessor in Downing Street, with the current PM making clear the decision was made by the House of Lords appointment commission and that he refused Johnson’s request to intervene.

On Monday, Dorries added to the din when she spoke to Piers Morgan on TalkTV, and said she was “broken-hearted” that a woman from her background had had the appointment taken away from her.

She told Morgan “This story is about a girl from Breck Road in Liverpool who worked every day of her life since she was 14 years old, had something offered to her … people from that background don’t get offered … removed by two privileged posh boys who went to Winchester and Oxford, and taken away duplicitously and cruelly because they have known for months that it wasn’t the case. And yet they let me and they let Boris Johnson continue to believe that was the case.”

She added: “It was upsetting and it’s upsetting for everybody who thinks that one day they could be that person because you know what if you come up against someone like Rishi Soak and James Forsyth, from privileged backgrounds, who have it all very easily, given to them on a plate … you’re in trouble.”

Johnson’s own background is not a fair comparison because he attended Eton on a scholarship and has “no money”, she claimed.

Dorries also claimed she had been “bullied” by No. 10 and decided she “can’t allow that to happen”.

She denied “knifing the party” by triggering a by-election in her constituency, telling TalkTV: “I think you come to a point in life when you have to stop, when you can’t just be pushed around, when you can’t allow people to bully you, as I’ve just been bullied by No 10. You can’t allow that to happen, you have to stand up for yourself, and that’s what I did.”

The former culture secretary added: “It was a painful decision … I didn’t want to cause a by-election.”

Dorries was born in 1957 in Liverpool and grew up on a council estate.

She has previously referred to David Cameron and George Osborne as “arrogant posh boys”, while describing herself as “a normal mother who comes from a poor background and who didn’t go to a posh school”.

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Sunak To ‘Clear The Decks’ By Nodding Through Johnson Resignation Honours List

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Rishi Sunak is expected to accept Boris Johnson’s long-awaited resignation honours list in a move that could prompt crunch by-elections when Labour are well ahead of the Tories in the polls.

The Times newspaper reported that official confirmation of who will receive peerages and sit in the House of Lords could be published in a matter of weeks, with the current prime minister hoping to “clear the decks”.

The move comes amid acrimony between Sunak and Johnson over the Covid-19 public inquiry and whether the former-PM’s unredacted WhatsApp messages during the pandemic should be handed over.

Also, according to The Times, it could prompt by-elections for seats held by former cabinet ministers Nadine Dorries and Alok Sharma, who have long been thought to be on the 50-strong list.

Two other former ministers – Nigel Adams and Alister Jack – are also expected to be enobled, but will stay on as MPs until the end of this parliament.

“We strictly do not comment on honours,” Johnson’s spokesman said.

A poll this week showed the Labour Party is on track to win a 140-seat majority at the next election.

The bombshell MRP analysis suggests Keir Starmer is heading for 10 Downing Street on the back of a landslide victory in 2024.

<img class="img-sized__img landscape" loading="lazy" alt="Former prime minister Boris Johnson and wife Carrie.” width=”720″ height=”486″ src=”https://www.wellnessmaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/sunak-to-clear-the-decks-by-nodding-through-johnson-resignation-honours-list-2.jpg”>
Former prime minister Boris Johnson and wife Carrie.

Kirsty O’Connor via PA Wire/PA Images

Meanwhile, Johnson and his wife Carrie hosted a close friend at Chequers in May 2021 for an overnight stay while some Covid-19 restrictions were still in place, according to reports.

A spokesman for the former prime minister said that the visit was “entirely lawful”, after The Guardian newspaper reported that events organiser Dixie Maloney stayed at the grace and favour country residence on May 7 2021.

At that stage, indoor mixing between different households was not permitted.

Exceptions to this included gatherings “reasonably necessary” for work purposes and childcare. The Guardian cited sources suggesting that Maloney was permitted to be there for childcare reasons given Symonds was pregnant.

Under the rules at the time, a gathering could be seen as reasonably necessary “to provide care or assistance to a vulnerable person” – a definition that under the legislation included anyone pregnant.

A spokesman for the former prime minister said: “This was entirely lawful, and it was covered by relevant provisions in the Covid regulations, as The Guardian’s report makes clear.

“To suggest otherwise is totally untrue.”

There had been some speculation that Maloney was involved in some of the planning behind the couple’s wedding.

A decision last month to pass to the police concerns over events in Chequers and Downing Street, following a review of the former prime minister’s official diary, led to renewed questions for Johnson and the ministers.

Entries in the former prime minister’s official diary reportedly revealed visits by friends to Chequers during the pandemic and new allegations about his behaviour in Downing Street.

Cabinet Office officials passed concerns to the Metropolitan Police and Thames Valley Police after the new information came to light during a review by taxpayer-funded lawyers ahead of the Covid public inquiry.

Johnson, who believes he is the victim of a stitch-up, ditched the government-appointed lawyers representing him in the Covid inquiry after the referral.

It came as he awaits the verdict of the Commons privileges committee, which is conducting an inquiry into whether Johnson lied to parliament about the partygate scandal.

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Minister Denies Sunak Is Blocking WhatsApps Over Fears Plot To Topple Johnson Will Be Exposed

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A minister has dismissed claims that Rishi Sunak is blocking the release of messages to the Covid inquiry to avoid exposing a plot against Boris Johnson.

Robert Jenrick insisted the reason for the government’s bid to stop the release of unredacted messages to the inquiry was a “simple legal one”.

It follows an extraordinary argument between ministers and the official inquiry into the pandemic.

The government is trying to block the inquiry’s order to release WhatsApp messages and diaries, arguing that it should not have to hand over material which is “unambiguously irrelevant”.

However, a defiant Johnson has bypassed the government and told the inquiry he is happy to hand over all his own communications from that period.

Allies of the former prime minister claimed Sunak was blocking the release of text messages because it could reveal his plot to bring down Johnson, according to the Mail on Sunday.

Asked about the claims, Jenrick told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “No, as I say, the issue here is a simple legal one.”

Jenrick said Johnson would not be restricted over what he divulged to the Covid inquiry.

But he said it would not be “sensible or reasonable” to hand over ministers’ documents or messages if they are deemed irrelevant to the pandemic.

It comes after cabinet office lawyers wrote to Johnson to warn that money would “cease to be available” if he breaks conditions such as releasing evidence without permission.

He has had legal advice paid for by the taxpayer, but the Sunday Times detailed the letter from government lawyers containing the warning to Johnson.

“The funding offer will cease to be available to you if you knowingly seek to frustrate or undermine, either through your own actions or the actions of others, the government’s position in relation to the inquiry unless there is a clear and irreconcilable conflict of interest on a particular point at issue,” it said.

The cabinet office insisted the letter was “intended to protect public funds” so taxpayer-funded lawyers are not used for any other purpose than aiding the inquiry.

Former culture secretary Nadine Dorries, a staunch ally of the former Tory leader, said it is “not a good look for the government”.

“All evidence provided should be unfettered and not restricted by gov censorship – whatever form that may take,” she tweeted.

Conservative donor Lord Cruddas, an outspoken backer of Johnson, who handed him a peerage, urged the MP not to be “held to ransom” by the threat.

“Don’t worry @BorisJohnson I can easily get your legal fees funded by supporters and crowd funding, it’s easy,” he tweeted.

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‘Return Of The Maybot’: Rishi Sunak Rinsed Over Toe-Curling TV Clip

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Rishi Sunak has been rinsed over an excruciating 80-second interview in which he kept repeating himself.

The prime minister was compared unflatteringly to his predecessor Theresa May – who was dubbed the “Maybot” for her awkward public persona.

Sunak was quizzed by Sky News over the controversy surrounding the Covid inquiry’s demands for WhatsApp messages sent by Boris Johnson during the pandemic.

He said: “I think it’s really important that we learn the lessons of Covid and that’s why the inquiry was established and we want to make sure that whatever lessons there are to be learned are learned and that we do that in a spirit of transparency and candour.

“The government has co-operated with the inquiry – tens of thousands of documents have been handed over.

“And with regard to the specific question at the moment, the government’s carefully considering its position, but it’s confident in the approach that it’s taken.”

Asked if the government wanted to get into a legal battle with the inquiry over the withheld messages, the PM said: “We are carefully considering next steps and the government is confident in its position.”

Pressed again, Sunak said: “The government’s handed over tens and tens of thousands of documents in a spirit of candour and transparency because it is important that we learn the lessons of Covid.

“With regard to the particular question at the moment, we’re carefully considering next steps but the government is confident in its position.”

The exasperated interviewer tried once again to get a straight answer out of the prime minister, but falling back on his pre-prepared lines once again, he said: “The government is considering next steps carefully, but has been confident of its position and has handed over tens of thousands of documents today in a spirit of candour and transparency because it’s important that we learn the lessons from Covid and carefully considering next steps.”

Campaign group Best for Britain tweeted: “The skill of a politician is to stick to their answer without looking like a myna bird, rocking on its perch, just mimicking human speech.”

Ian Blackford, the SNP’s former leader at Westminster, was another Twitter user who mocked the PM.

He said: “This is the return of the Maybot. Make statement and repeat despite follow up questions trying to get a proper response.”

Others described Sunak as a “broken ChatGPT bot” over the toe-curling exchange.

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Tory MP Pleads With Party To ‘Just Leave Boris Johnson Alone’

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A Tory MP has pleaded with her colleagues to just “leave” Boris Johnson “alone”, after the former prime minister was referred to police over further potential lockdown breaches.

Speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme,Andrea Jenkyns said there was an “orchestrated campaign” against Johnson from within the Conservative Party.

She also said her support for Rishi Sunak remaining party leader and PM in the run-up to the next election “depends on the polling”.

Johnson appeared flustered when he was approached by Sky News at an airport in Washington DC on Friday and quizzed about entries from his ministerial diary which have been referred to two police forces.

The Times, which broke the story, reported the documents show visits by friends to Chequers – the prime minister’s grace and favour country residence – and further events in Downing Street.

The new information came to light during a review by taxpayer-funded lawyers ahead of the Covid public inquiry.

Jenkyns said of Johnson’s removal as prime minister: “The left got what they want.

“I think Boris, and Carrie is heavily pregnant, just leave him alone.

“But honestly, there has been an orchestrated campaign not only in my own party as well, because let’s face it, most of my fellow MPs who are One Nation, to the left of the party,

“They have got the leader that they wanted in Rishi, they never accepted Boris, they never accepted Liz Truss and they are out of synch with the party membership who are big Boris fans.”

In a separate interview this morning, health secretary Steve Barclay insisted Johnson has a “huge role to play” in politics and should remain an MP after the next general election.

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Boris Johnson: Covid Rule-Breaking Claims ‘A Load Of Nonsense’

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Boris Johnson has branded suggestions he may have taken part in further rule-breaking during the pandemic “a load of absolute nonsense”.

The former prime minister would not say who he believes is trying to “stitch him up”, having previously claimed he appears to be the victim of a politically motivated plot.

But he insisted that the Cabinet Office decision to hand over entries from his official diary during the pandemic to police without first querying them with him was “ridiculous”.

No 10 and the Cabinet Office are adamant that ministers were not involved when Whitehall officials passed concerns to the Metropolitan Police and Thames Valley Police.

The entries revealed visits by Johnson’s friends to Chequers – the prime minister’s country estate – and events in Downing Street during the pandemic, according to The Times, which broke the story.

The new information is said to have come to light during a review by taxpayer-funded lawyers ahead of the Covid public inquiry.

Johnson was catching a flight in Washington DC on Friday as part of his trip to the US, where he is speaking about the war in Ukraine, when he was approached by a Sky News journalist asking about the revelations.

“You want my honest view, I think this whole thing is completely nonsensical,” he said.

Asked what the entries show, he replied: “They merely record events in my day.”

Johnson was previously fined for attending a gathering in Downing Street to mark his birthday in June 2020 – one of a series of political crises that ultimately led to the end of his premiership.

“This whole thing is a load of nonsense from beginning to end… I think it’s ridiculous that elements in my diary should be cherry-picked and handed over to the police, to the Privileges Committee without even anybody having the basic common sense to ask me what these entries referred to,” he said.

Asked whether he believes Sunak is trying to stitch him up, he said: “I just think it’s totally nonsensical and bizarre. There are tens of thousands of entries in the prime ministerial diary… None of them constitute a breach of the rules during Covid.”

Johnson suggested none of the entries in question relate to periods when the country was in lockdown, but times when other restrictions were in place.

He added: “For reasons that – somebody, somewhere, thinks it’s sensible to do this – I don’t.”

The privileges committee, which is conducting an inquiry into whether Johnson lied to Parliament about the partygate scandal, has also been informed of the new information.

The fallout adds to the problems confronting Sunak, who was handed a fixed penalty alongside Johnson over the June 2020 event and now faces unrest from the former prime minister’s allies.

Sunak “definitely” did not go to the grace-and-favour retreat in contravention of coronavirus rules when he was chancellor during the pandemic, his press secretary said.

The rime minister has not discussed the controversy with his predecessor, the spokeswoman said.

Johnson, in a letter to the chair of the Covid inquiry, indicated he was severing ties with taxpayer-funded lawyers representing him.

It is understood he lost confidence in the Cabinet Office.

Labour leader Keir Starmer said earlier on Friday the public was “fed up to the back teeth” with stories about the former prime minister.

“These are deeply personal things and increasing revelations about Boris Johnson, I think, just add to that sense of hurt and people are fed up with it,” he said.

“I do think there are questions now about why have these allegations not come out before, all these allegations.

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Sue Gray Refused To Co-Operate With Inquiry Into Job With Labour, Government Says

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An inquiry into Sue Gray’s proposed move to the Labour Party has been put on hold after the partygate investigator refused to take part in the probe, a government minister has said.

Her appointment as the Labour leader’s chief-of-staff proved hugely controversial among Tory MPs given that she led the official government probe into Downing Street rule-breaking during lockdown.

Some reports suggested she could have breached the civil service code with her job move.

According to an update on a review into the appointment, Gray declined to make representations into the inquiry looking into her discussions with Labour about the senior party role, Oliver Dowden has said.

In a written statement to the House of Commons on Tuesday, cabinet office secretary Oliver Dowden said his department has made a “confidential assessment” to the anti-corruption watchdog and will not provide further information on Gray’s departure “whilst we consider next steps”.

As well as a cabinet office probe, the anti-corruption watchdog, the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), is reviewing the terms of Gray’s departure.

It can set recommendations for when senior people leave government, including calling for a cooling-off period to avoid any conflict of interest.

Who Is Sue Gray?

The senior civil servant was thrust into the limelight when she took over the probe into coronavirus rule-breaking at No 10 in 2021.

She stepped in to lead the investigation after cabinet secretary Simon Case – her boss – recused himself following allegations that his own office held a Christmas event amid a lockdown.

An initial dossier, published in January 2022, included several strong criticisms of Downing Street’s drinking culture, but was short on details about the parties as it was hampered by an investigation launched by the Metropolitan Police.

But her full report in May 2022 proved to be a bombshell. It detailed events at which officials drank so much they were sick, sang karaoke, became involved in altercations and abused security and cleaning staff at a time when millions of people across the country were unable to see friends and family.

She criticised “failures of leadership and judgment” in No 10 and said “the senior leadership at the centre, both political and official, must bear responsibility”.

Six weeks later, Johnson was forced out of office by his own cabinet and Conservative MPs.

While Gray, in her mid-60s, is said to shun the media spotlight, some politicians have gone so far as to suggest the former publican is the “real leader” of the UK.

In her former role as director-general of propriety and ethics in the Cabinet Office from 2012 to 2018, she is said to have overseen cabinet reshuffles, served as a guiding hand in compiling honours lists, and even signed off political memoirs before their publication.

In the statement, Dowden said Gray was “given the opportunity to make representations as part of this process but chose not to do so”.

He added that “in order to maintain confidentiality towards an individual former employee, I am unable at this stage to provide further information relating to the departure of Ms Gray whilst we consider next steps”.

Dowden also highlighted sections of the civil service code relating to the political activity of civil servants, adding: “The impartiality and perceived impartiality of the Civil Service is constitutionally vital to the conduct of government.”

Earlier in the day Starmer insisted he had no discussions with Gray while she was investigating Boris Johnson and he was “confident” she had not broken any rules.

“Firstly I had no discussions with her while she was investigating Boris Johnson whatsoever, I don’t think anyone is suggesting that’s the case,” the Labour leader told BBC Breakfast ahead of an expected update later from the Cabinet Office on the circumstances of her departure.

He went on: “I’m confident she hasn’t broken any of the rules.”

Starmer claimed the government was trying to resurrect a story about Gray, because they do not want to talk about the cost of living crisis.

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George Osborne Says There Is ‘No Prospect’ of Boris Johnson Becoming PM Again

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There is “no prospect” of Boris Johnson ever becoming prime minister again, George Osborne has said.

The former chancellor said the civil war inside the Tory Party “has ended” because Johnson is now fighting to even remain as an MP.

The ex-prime minister is waiting for the privilege committee’s verdict on whether he misled the Commons over lockdown-busting parties inside 10 Downing Street.

On the Andrew Neil Show on Channel 4, Osborne also praised Rishi Sunak for improving the Conservatives’ fortunes since taking over as PM from Liz Truss and said they now had a chance of winning the next election.

Speaking after an interview with safeguarding minister Sarah Dines, Osborne said: “I think things are much better for [Sunak’s] administration at the end of this series of this show than they were when we started at the beginning of the year.

″Not least because the internal rebellion has ended in the Tory Party.

“You were asking the minister about Boris Johnson – there’s no prospect of him coming back. He’s battling to stay in the House of Commons itself.”

Johnson gave a fiery appearance in front of the privileges committee last month during which he admitted he did mislead the Commons, but insisted his comments were made “in good faith” after being assured by his advisers that no parties had taken place.

An interim report by the committee earlier this month said it should have been “obvious” to him that lockdown rules were broken.

If the committee recommends that Johnson be suspended from parliament for at leats 10 days, and the Commons votes for it, he would face a recall petition and potentially a by-election in his Uxbridge seat.

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Boris Johnson Is A ‘Man Of Integrity’, Cabinet Minister Insists

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Boris Johnson is a “man of integrity” and “puts the country first”, a Cabinet minister has insisted.

Levelling up secretary Michael Gove said he believes everything Johnson said when he was hauled in front of MPs last week.

The former prime minister was interrogated by seven MPs over statements he made to parliament about the partygate scandal.

Johnson swore “hand on heart” that he did not lie to the House of Commons during the high stakes hearing with the privileges committee.

Their inquiry into whether he led misled parliament has the potential to end his political career.

However, Gove told Sky News Johnson is a “man of integrity” and is someone who “puts the country first”.

He went on to tell the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme he believed the former prime minister’s evidence.

Asked if Johnson had always told the truth, Gove said: “I think that all of us will at some point have told a white lie or an untruth.

“But I think the fundamental thing here —and again the privileges committee will make up its own mind, it has looked at all the evidence — but what was Boris’ argument? He was working incredibly hard, every hour that the lord sent in order to try and do the right thing.

“He believed that saying thank you to people who were leaving in the cramped and confined circumstances of 10 Downing Street was part of that job. Did he attend those events in a spirit of self-indulgence? No, he did so in order to show his gratitude to those who were working with him.”

Gove said he was inclined to give Johnson “not just the benefit of the doubt” but to believe him when he “places his hand on his heart”.

Johnson swore on the King James Bible to tell the truth before accepting that he misled MPs but insisted his partygate denials were made “in good faith” based on what he “honestly” knew at the time.

Johnson said if it was so “obvious” that rule-breaking was going on in No.10, then it would also have been “obvious” to others, including Rishi Sunak.

He also argued the process had been “manifestly unfair” and said if the inquiry is accusing him of lying, then it is also levelling the same charge at civil servants, advisers and MPs.

If the committee decides Johnson did mislead MPs – and the Commons backs suspending him for 10 days or more – he could face a by-election in his Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency.

However, there is a long process to get through before the saga potentially reaches that stage.

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