The Bishop of Buckingham has joined calls for Boris Johnson to resign, saying he “obviously” lied over parties in Downing Street during lockdown.
It was “nonsense” for the prime minister to claim he did not realise what was going on, the Rt Rev Dr Alan Wilson said, adding the country needs a leader it can trust.
The senior Church of England figure’s intervention came as Mr Johnson was booed by the public on arrival to St Paul’s Cathedral for the national service of thanksgiving for the Queen.
Asked on Times Radio if Mr Johnson should resign, Dr Wilson said: “The only answer is yes. I’m an army baby and what they used to say in the army was you can trust anybody, but you can’t trust a liar.”
“In all sorts of contexts, you have to be able to trust the people who lead you, who represent you.”
He said excuses for the prime minister’s behaviour – “oh I didn’t realise, I was ambushed by a cake” – were clearly nonsense and that he was “obviously” an out and out liar.
He added: “Actually, you can see it from a mile off. And most ordinary people realise it’s all nonsense. It’s not the parties actually. It’s the lying. I think that’s the problem.
“I mean, everybody makes mistakes. And I think people are very tolerant about that. But I think it’s very difficult to trust a liar.”
In the week since the Sue Gray report was published a steady stream of Conservative MPs have called for Mr Johnson to stand down.
Under party rules, the prime minister will face a confidence vote if 54 Tory MPs submit a letter to the chair of the backbench 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady calling for one.
Around 30 backbenchers have publicly called for Mr Johnson to go and it is thought more will have submitted letters.
The Bishop of Buckingham has staged the most explicit clergyman’s rebuke over the prime minister’s actions so far – though his superior, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said the Sue Gray report showed “culture, behaviour and standards in public life” matter.
