Fresh party claims pile pressure on Boris Johnson

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Boris Johnson remained in deep trouble over the “partygate” affair on Tuesday as new revelations emerged from his attendance at lockdown and once-loyal Conservative MPs said he parties should quit.

Many Tory MPs said the prime minister was on a three-month probation until local elections in May, but a constant drip of new revelations threatening to further his position in the days ahead.

A day after Johnson promised Tory MPs at a private meeting that there would be “no new revelations”, new details emerged from his attendance at events under criminal investigation by the Metropolitan Police.

Johnson attended a leaving event for a Number 10 aide during the strict post-Christmas lockdown on January 14 2021, making a speech while staff drank prosecco, The Guardian reported.

The event was revealed in an interim report by Sue Gray, a senior civil servant. But details were expunged in advance at the request of the Met, which is probing 12 separate parties in Downing Street and Whitehall.

Meanwhile, Johnson was also reported to have attended an event in his Downing Street flat on November 13 2020 — the day Dominic Cummings, his former adviser, was forced out of his job, according to The Telegraph.

Johnson refused to tell MPs on Monday whether he went to the event on November 13 and Downing Street declined to comment on the new claims.

Police are also probing a 56th birthday party for Johnson in the cabinet room and a “bring your own booze” party in the Downing Street garden, also attended by the prime minister.

Peter Aldous, MP for Waveney, on Tuesday called for Johnson to go “after a great deal of searching soul”, while other mainstream Tory MPs said they were agonising over whether to call for a no-confidence vote.

Gary Streeter, MP for South West Devon, told BBC Radio Devon that he was “wrestling with his conscience”, adding that “many prime ministers would resign” over revelations of a lockdown party culture in Downing Street.

Although most Tory MPs had said the immediate danger to Johnson had passed, there is widespread agreement that his survival as prime minister beyond the summer is uncertain.

Downing Street on Tuesday confirmed, after initial hesitation, that it would make public any penalty notice handed to Johnson following the Met investigation.

Johnson has also reluctantly agreed, under pressure from Tory MPs, to publish a full version of the report by Gray into the parties, once the police have concluded their own inquiry.

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In her “updated” report published on Monday, Gray criticizing a “failure of leadership” in Number 10 and unearthed a drinking culture but she had to excise more details at the request of the Met.

Some in government believe that Gray’s original report was “dynamite” and highly damaging to Johnson, hence his original reluctance to guarantee to MPs that it would be published.

Many Tory MPs fear that the prime minister and party could suffer more harm when the Met finally reports. They see the local elections on May 5 as a key moment to assess whether Johnson is still a winner.

Although most believe the threat of a no-confidence vote has receded for now — a total of 54 Tory MPs are required to trigger one — many Conservatives remain deeply troubled by Johnson’s alleged conduct.

One MP said Johnson’s defiant statement on the Gray report in the House of Commons was “a disgrace”. The MP, who is considering whether to call for a no-confidence vote, said: “Listening to him made me feel dirty.”

Andrew Mitchell, a former chief whip, said on Tuesday that Johnson was “corroding the fabric of the Conservative party” and that the party scandal was like “battery acid” on its reputation.

One pro-Brexit MP said he had been urged by a local party to join the campaign to unseat Johnson, while a Tory MP from the 2019 intake said: “He has lied to the House of Commons — that is clear.”

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The MP added: “Many from my intake aren’t objecting to his policies per se but the nature in which he has conducted himself. This isn’t what we came into parliament for.”

A House of Commons select committee chair said: “I think he’ll get through to the May elections but who knows how much collateral damage there will be to the party in the meantime.”

Meanwhile, Johnson faced Tory criticism for alleging in the Commons that Sir Keir Starmer, labor party leader, had failed as director of public prosecutions to prosecute the late paedophile Jimmy Savile.

Julian Smith, another former Tory chief whip, said: “The smear made against Keir Starmer relating to Jimmy Savile yesterday is wrong and cannot be defended.

“It should be withdrawn. False and baseless personal slurs are dangerous, corrode trust and can’t just be accepted as part of the cut and thrust of parliament debate.”

Downing Street declined to repeat the claim, made by Johnson in the Commons under the parliamentary privilege.

Cummings, who has vowed to bring down Johnson, claimed that his former boss was a “sociopath” who lied to everyone including his wife: “People underestimated the extent to which he lies to literally everybody, literally all day — including to Carrie and about Carrie,” he wrote online.

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