Keir Starmer has said Boris Johnson has new questions to answer about allegations of lockdown parties at Chequers, despite the public being “fed up to the back teeth” with stories about his lawbreaking.
The Labour leader said there were people who were feeling both hurt and fed up about the continuing saga, but there were “questions now about why have these allegations not come out before”.
Starmer weighed in on the controversy after the Cabinet Office passed fresh allegations of wrongdoing to the police this week. They did so after seeing diary entries about guests who were at Chequers during the pandemic, which Johnson handed to lawyers representing him as part of the Covid inquiry.
Police fined Johnson more than a year ago in relation to an event in June 2020 for his birthday. More than 100 fines were handed out to others over events held in and around Downing Street.
The Partygate saga contributed to the demise of Johnson’s premiership but the former prime minister has since been mulling over whether a comeback is possible. However, Johnson is still facing an inquiry by the privileges committee of MPs into whether he misled the House of Commons by saying all Covid rules were followed.
On Friday, Starmer told broadcasters: “I think people are fed up to the back teeth with stories about Boris Johnson. The heart of this is a simple truth that, across the country, people made massive sacrifices during Covid.
“Some people not going to the birth of their baby, not going to the funeral of one of their close family members. 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.
“I do think there are questions now about why have these allegations not come out before, all these allegations.
“Obviously, there will be investigations, I understand that.
“The core of this is a very human feeling of one rule for us, which we obey, another rule for Boris Johnson and those at the top of the Tory party.”
The diaries showing about a dozen events at both the prime minister’s grace-and-favour mansion, Chequers, and No 10, between June 2020 and May 2021, were provided to Johnson’s government-appointed lawyers.
However, the Cabinet Office, which paid for the lawyers, also received the diaries, and officials then decided that under the civil service code, they should refer the matter to the police.
Downing Street denied Johnson was the victim of a politically motivated stitch-up, after his allies reacted with fury to news of the latest police involvement.
No 10 stressed Sunak had no involvement in the decision to hand over Johnson’s pandemic diaries, saying they had “not seen the information or material in question”, adding that ministers had “no involvement in this process and were only made aware after the police had been contacted”.
