Johnson has ‘lost moral authority to lead’ and ‘must go’, says Starmer
Boris Johnson “broke the law” and then “lied about what had happened”, Sir Keir Starmer has claimed, as the prime minister reportedly scrambles to stop the No 10 parties scandal claiming his job with a raft of new policies to get voters back on-side.
After sources told The Independent that Mr Johnson could be planning to oust members of his inner circle under a plan named Operation Save Big Dog, The Sunday Times now reports that a further plan named Operation Red Meat could see the BBC licence fee frozen, military involvement in the Channel crossings effort, and a “booze ban” in No 10.
It comes as a sixth Tory MP, former children’s minister Tim Loughton, called on the prime minister to resign as a result of his “obfuscation, prevarication and evasion” in handling the row.
Meanwhile, Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner has asked Cabinet secretary Simon Case to provide “urgent” answers about “unprecedented” allegations that No 10 staff were pressured to delete evidence of illegal parties in Downing Street.
Boris Johnson may scrap Covid restrictions to distract from from Partygate, Labour suggests
Our policy correspondent Jon Stone has more details on Labour’s claims that the Partygate scandal engulfing Boris Johnson’s premiership could impact upon his decision to lift Covid restrictions.
The prime minister may scrap his plan-B Covid restriction for “party management” reasons rather than because it is the right policy, shadow health secretary Wes Streeting suggested.
Also speaking to Sky News, Tory Party co-chair Oliver Dowden earlier suggested that Mr Johnson’s decision to keep England relatively restriction-free compared with the rest of the UK in the face of the Omicron threat was a key indication of why he should remain prime minister.
Andy Gregory16 January 2022 10:46
PM ‘broke the law’ amid ‘industrial-scale partying’ at No 10, Sir Keir Starmer claims
Boris Johnson “broke the law” and then “lied about what had happened”, Sir Keir Starmer has claimed.
Speaking on BBC’s Sunday Morning programme, Sir Keir said: “I think he broke the law. I think he’s as good as admitted that he broke the law. And, after all, Downing Street has now apologised to the Queen for some of the parties that have gone on.
“I know that the government’s holding position is ‘let’s all wait for the Sue Gray report’. But I think it’s pretty obvious what’s happened, this industrial-scale partying had been going on at Downing Street, not much of it is really denied, and I think that the public have made up their mind.
“I think the facts speak for themselves. I think the prime minister broke the law, I think he then lied about what had happened.”
Asked if the Metropolitan Police are right to wait for the inquiry before investigating the No 10 parties, Sir Keir said: “Once Sue Gray has come to her findings, she will set out all the facts, she is very well respected, I think that all of those should be passed to the police to look at.
“I don’t go along with this idea that we’ve all got to wait somehow, I think it’s blindingly obvious what has happened.”
Andy Gregory16 January 2022 10:20
‘No comparison’ between Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer’s behaviour, Labour MP says
Wes Streeting has insisted there is “no comparison” between the photograph of Sir Keir Starmer drinking a beer while talking to party staff in an office last year, and the allegations facing Boris Johnson from the year prior.
The image of the Labour leader – which first emerged in spring last year – was taken when indoor mixing was not permitted, unless it was for work. Labour has previously said it was from a workplace event, with Sir Keir and “a local MP” having “paused for dinner as the meeting was during the evening”.
The shadow health secretary told Sky News: “There is no comparison between Keir Starmer following the rules in 2021 and Boris Johnson breaking the rules in 2020, no comparison whatsoever.”
Andy Gregory16 January 2022 10:13
No 10 parties ‘unforgivable’, former Tory leader says
Sir Iain Duncan Smith has said lockdown-busting parties in No 10 were “unforgivable”, describing himself “as appalled as anybody else”.
He told Sky News’ Trevor Phillips On Sunday programme: “This is unforgivable, there is no question that what has been going on and … the culture has become lazy and slack about what happens after hours, what happens in offices.
“You know, most businesses wouldn’t allow what was going on in the offices, even though people have been under pressure. This was in the middle of lockdown with oppressive rules about what people could and couldn’t do.”
Andy Gregory16 January 2022 09:58
Tories will be ‘knocked out at next election’ with Boris Johnson at helm, Labour MP claims
Boris Johnson remaining in post “is great for the Labour Party”, Labour’s Wes Streeting has said.
“If I’m thinking purely through the prism of party politics, then my message is: ‘Keep him on, knock yourselves out, you’ll be literally knocked out at the next election’,” the shadow health secretary told Sky News.
“But we are still in the middle of a national crisis here and the prime minister’s actions and judgments matter.
“It comes back to the point I made about Plan B measures – if the prime minister or the health secretary from the Conservative Party is coming forward saying, ‘We’re going to remove Plan B measures’, I want to be absolutely confident they are making that decision in the national interest and not in the party interest, for party management reasons.
“I don’t have total confidence about that.”
Andy Gregory16 January 2022 09:47
Sky News host tells minister of his daughter’s death on same weekend No 10 held parties
Sky News presenter Trevor Phillips has confronted the Conservative Party co-chair Oliver Dowden about parties being held in No 10 on the same weekend his daughter died, after sticking “to the spirit and letter of the rules”.
Speaking on his Sunday show, a visibly emotional Mr Phillips said: “We all stuck to the spirit and the letter of the rules. On the Saturday after watching the funeral of Prince Philip, I went to one of my friends’ 70th birthday party.
“He hired a tent, he has got loads of friends, but he hired a tent just for the six of us so that we could sit outside. He stuck to the spirit and the letter of the rules. At that dinner, I get a call, my daughter has collapsed. As you will know, for months she had been isolated, she was ill.
“By the following morning, she had died and she had stuck to the spirit and letter of the rules. Now, there are going to be thousands of people who have that story in their background. And if I may say so, you are in here telling me about a civil servant’s inquiry. That will not answer that anger. Does the prime minister really understand why people are angry?”
Mr Dowden said, “I know how much you have suffered during this period”, adding: “What I’m trying to offer to you and to your viewers who may be watching this programme is to explain to you how the government is seeking to move forward through this.
“First of all, to establish all of the facts of what happened. And then the prime minister will be held to account in Parliament for what happened.”
Andy Gregory16 January 2022 09:40
How many MPs have submitted letters to the 1922 Committee?
Boris Johnson’s fate as prime minister lies in the hands of Tory MPs – 54 of whom must submit letters of no confidence to the chair of the backbench 1922 committee in order to trigger a leadership contest.
So how many are estimated to have done so already? It’s impossible to tell for certain, although the rumoured number has risen significantly this weekend.
On Saturday, The Telegraph cited party insiders as suggesting that as many as 20 letters could have been submitted.
Now The Sunday Times reports that, according to a senior Westminster figure, the total number may have risen to 35 – at least seven of which are reportedly thought to have come from Tories in Labour’s former “red wall”.
Andy Gregory16 January 2022 09:33
PM’s apology in Commons was ‘genuine’, minister says
Boris Johnson’s apology in the House of Commons this week was “genuine”, a minister has said, days after polling for The Independent found 68 per cent of voters believed the apology to be bogus.
Mr Dowden told Sky News that Sue Gray’s report into the Partygate allegations will “allow people to come forward and bring forward any further allegations, so they can properly be examined”, adding: “Once we’ve got a full picture of the facts, independently, that will then allow the prime minister to respond.
“Now of course, that is going to require a change of culture and I know the prime minister is committed to that, and … feels a sincere sense of regret and has apologised profoundly for what happened, and that is genuine.”
“But I think people need to hear that in the statement he will make in response to the Sue Gray report.”
Andy Gregory16 January 2022 09:21
Government ‘must improve the culture’ after Partygate, minister says
Addressing the Partygate scandal, Tory Party co-chair Oliver Dowden told Sky News: “We need to get all the facts, that’s what Sue Gray’s doing through her report.
“We need to look at how that stacks up against the rules at the time, and then the prime minister needs to respond to that.
“Now you won’t expect me to get into the detail of that response, but what I can tell you from the many conversations I’ve had with the prime minister and what you saw from him in the House on Wednesday, is that he is committed to upping our game.
“We must improve the culture, we must do better, I hear people’s anger, I know it, and we’ve got to respond to that.”
Andy Gregory16 January 2022 09:13
UK needs strong leadership to address ‘consequences of Covid’, minister says of PM
Pressed that Boris Johnson had turned an 80-seat majority in 2019 into a consistent 10-point deficit in the polls, Oliver Dowden told Sky News: “Well we all know that opinion polls vary, what matters to me and to the British people is, first of all, they rightly expect us to get a grip of this situation.
“It was totally wrong, the events that happened. It’s absolutely right the prime minister has apologised and he will need to take further steps – and he will take those further steps when he makes a statement to the House of Commons.
“But it is also the case that we need to address not just Covid – and thank goodness we’re making progress as we come out of Omicron – but also on the consequences of Covid, whether that’s clearing the NHS backlog, or whether that’s rebuilding the economy.
“We need that kind of leadership to get us through it and that’s what people expect.”
The Sunday Times reported that as part of a plan named Operation Red Meat, Mr Johnson could seek to adopt a raft of policies to get voters urgently back on-side, including clearing the backlog of operations in the NHS.
Andy Gregory16 January 2022 09:08