A Downming Street spokesman today said Boris Johnson will resign if he misled Parliament over parties held in and around No 10 throughout lockdown, his official spokesman said today.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said he “abides by” the Ministerial Code, which said ministers who “knowingly mislead Parliament will be expected to offer their resignation”.
But the spokesman also denied that Mr Johnson had ever lied to Parliament.
Meanwhile Chancellor Rishi Sunak has refused to give his unequivocal backing to Boris Johnson as the threat to the Prime Minister’s leadership grows over partygate allegations.
The potential successor as Tory leader abruptly ended an interview on Tuesday when pressed if he gives his full support to the Prime Minister.
He instead said he believes Mr Johnson is telling the truth and backs his request for “patience” during a Whitehall investigation by senior official Sue Gray.
So far six Conservative MPs have publicly called for Mr Johnson to go amid widespread public anger over claims of lockdown-breaching parties in No 10.
And senior Tory Jeremy Hunt said in an interview that his ambition to lead the party has not “completely vanished”.
The affair deepened when former chief adviser to No 10 Dominic Cummings claimed Mr Johnson lied to Parliament over the parties.
Downing Street denies this, but appeared to accept that he would have to resign if he “knowingly” misled the House of Commons.
In his first interview since Mr Johnson’s apology to MPs over the scandal, the Chancellor said he accepts his explanation that he was not warned in advance about a No 10 drinks party during lockdown in May 2020.
“Of course I do. The Prime Minister set out his understanding of this matter last week in Parliament. I refer you to his words,” he told broadcasters.
“Sue Gray is conducting an inquiry into this matter and I fully support the Prime Minister’s requests for patience while that concludes.”
Asked if the Prime Minister should resign if he lied to Parliament, Mr Sunak said: “I am not going to get into hypotheticals, the ministerial code is clear on these matters.”
Pressed on whether Mr Johnson had his unequivocal support, Mr Sunak swiftly broke off the interview, walking off with a microphone still attached.
The Chancellor’s hours of silence after the Prime Minister’s apology to the Commons last Wednesday over the May 20 2020 “bring your own booze” garden gathering in No 10 had already been seen as conspicuous.
Meanwhile, Mr Hunt, who has served as both foreign and health secretary, discussed not having given up hope to become Tory leader.
The House magazine said he denied actively considering a run, before adding: “I won’t say my ambition has completely vanished, but it would take a lot to persuade me to put my hat into the ring.”
Mr Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss are seen as the frontrunners for any challenge to the Prime Minister.
But Mr Hunt was the strongest opponent against Mr Johnson when he won the leadership in 2019, coming second before being comfortably beaten.
Mr Cummings, Mr Johnson’s former chief adviser who levelled the allegation of lying to Parliament, said Mr Hunt’s remarks were a sign of a challenge.
“The is SW1 code for: leadership contest is imminent, sign up early if you want a seat in Cabinet, am on phone to donors & getting office set up, there has to be one non-brexit nutter in last 2,” Mr Cummings tweeted.
While only six Tories have publicly called for Mr Johnson to quit, many more are believed to have privately written letters calling for a vote of no confidence.
One route to a Tory leadership contest is for 54 letters to be submitted by MPs to chair of the 1922 Committee of Conservatives Sir Graham Brady, though he keeps the running total a closely guarded secret.
Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab insisted on Tuesday that an allegation from former chief adviser Dominic Cummings that the Prime Minister lied to the Commons is “nonsense”.
Mr Raab told Times Radio: “The suggestion that he lied is nonsense. He’s made it very clear to the House of Commons that questions on this… that he thought it was a work event.”
But the Cabinet minister was pressed on what would be expected if Mr Johnson had lied to the Commons.
“If it’s lying, deliberate in the way you describe, if it’s not corrected immediately, it would normally under the ministerial code and the governance around Parliament be a resigning matter,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Downing Street denied that Mr Johnson lied to Parliament but seemed to accept it would be a resigning matter if he “knowingly” misled the House of Commons.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “You have seen us say repeatedly that it is untrue that the Prime Minister was warned about the event (on May 20, 2020) in advance and you have got the Prime Minister’s statement to the House.”
Asked if Mr Johnson would quit if he misled Parliament, the spokesman said: “The guidance is clear, the ministerial code is very clear on this point when it comes to knowingly misleading the House and the Prime Minister abides by that, and we fully support it.”
Earlier, Mr Raab described the event in question as a “party” before rowing back on the remark.
“There was speculation that the May 20 party was held in my honour, to thank me, which is just ridiculous,” he told Sky News.
Asked if that means it was a party then, he said: “No, no, no, this was the claim that was made and it was nonsense, I wasn’t invited and I didn’t attend.”
On Monday, Mr Cummings said he and another senior official warned the Prime Minister’s principal private secretary, Martin Reynolds, that his invitation to around 100 staff was against coronavirus rules.
“I said to the PM something like: ‘Martin’s invited the building to a drinks party, this is what I’m talking about, you’ve got to grip this madhouse’. The PM waved it aside,” Mr Cummings wrote on his blog.
“The events of May 20 alone, never mind the string of other events, mean the PM lied to Parliament about parties.
“Not only me but other eyewitnesses who discussed this at the time would swear under oath this is what happened.”
A No 10 spokesman insisted Mr Johnson had apologised to the House and that he “believed implicitly” that he had been attending a work event.
“It is untrue that the Prime Minister was warned about the event in advance,” the spokesman said, adding that Mr Johnson would be making a further statement when senior civil servant Sue Gray has completed her inquiry into party allegations.
The latest salvo from Mr Cummings, who left Downing Street in November 2020, is adding to the pressure on Mr Johnson as he faces public calls to resign from six Tory MPs and widespread anger over claims that No 10 staff broke the Covid rules they imposed.
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said Mr Johnson does not need to wait for Ms Gray’s report – which is expected at the end of this week at the earliest – and called on him to step down now.
“Instead of hiding behind internal inquiries or technicalities, we need the Prime Minister to tell the truth, pure and simple,” she said. “He must resign.”
After allegations of a Christmas party during restrictions in 2020 first emerged, Mr Johnson told the Commons he had been “repeatedly assured since these allegations emerged that there was no party and that no Covid rules were broken”.
But after an email surfaced of Mr Reynolds inviting colleagues to the May 20 2020 event, the Prime Minister admitted in the Commons last week that he attended to “thank groups of staff”.
“I believed implicitly that this was a work event,” he said, before conceding he “should have sent everyone back inside” but claiming it may “technically” have fallen within the rules.
