Afternoon summary
- The Commons has adjourned for the day, meaning that making a statement to MPs tonight on the Sue Gray report into the partygate scandal is no longer an option for Boris Johnson. Johnson had at one point been expected to publish the report, and take questions on it from MPs, today. But No 10 has not given any more detailed guidance on when it will be published, and there has even been speculation about it being delayed until next week. We are pausing the blog tonight, but if anything changes in the next few hours, we’ll revive the blog immediately.
That’s all from me for today. But if there are any important developments in the Waiting for Sue Gray saga later tonight, a colleague will reactivate the blog.
Photograph: WIktor Szymanowicz/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock
Updated
ITV’s Anushka Asthana has been tweeting on the Boris Johnson fightback operation.
A bit more on the now super-organised efforts to try to shore up support for Boris Johnson on backbenches - the WhatsApp group is called “Support Group” - has 98 members- who are invited to 3 meetings every day… two in person, one virtual. 30/40 tend to turn up. 1/
— Anushka Asthana (@AnushkaAsthana) January 26, 2022
PM has been meeting something like 15 MPs a day. Their message to him? According to one source- the overwhelming message is - “we need you to be more Conservative”. So what does that mean in policy terms? 2/
— Anushka Asthana (@AnushkaAsthana) January 26, 2022
Massive push from MPs (and as we know Daily Mail) to reverse NI increase and sources say PM taken by it. Other policy I’ve heard has been raised is corporation tax rising from 2023. Then there is covid- wonder if some raised vaccine mandate 3/
— Anushka Asthana (@AnushkaAsthana) January 26, 2022
Plus - especially from a lot of new 2019-ers- small boats coming into Dover, levelling up and local issues. Also sounds like a lot have raised reform of no10 4/
— Anushka Asthana (@AnushkaAsthana) January 26, 2022
The SNP wants Boris Johnson to come to the Commons to explain why he said he was not involved in the decision to allow animals to be rescued as part of the British Kabul evacuation when emails published today say the opposite. In a statement Alyn Smyth, the SNP’s foreign affairs spokesman at Westminster, said:
Boris Johnson is stumbling from one scandal to the next – how many revelations can we have that contradict the prime minister’s stated position before we discount every word he says?
The leaked redacted excerpts from these emails seem to give the lie to Mr Johnson’s denial of any personal intervention in getting cats and dogs in Afghanistan to safety before people. If true, this raises serious questions for the UK government.
The reality is that the UK government’s exit was dominated by chaos and incompetence. There were countless cases of people in Afghanistan - including those who helped UK armed forces and those at real risk of Taliban reprisals - being left behind. The prime minister stated explicitly at the time that the UK was prioritising the evacuation of people, but this now seems deeply questionable.
The prime minister cannot dodge this latest scandal and he must come before parliament to address his conduct urgently.
Updated
Commons adjourns, ending chance of PM making statement to MPs on Sue Gray's report tonight
The debate in the Commons is now over, and the house has adjourned.
That means there is no chance of Boris Johnson making a statement to MPs tonight on the Sue Gray report.
We have still not heard what the plans are for publishing the report, but No 10 has always said it wants its publication to be followed by a Commons statement from Johnson soon afterwards.
From the BBC’s Peter Saull
It doesn’t look like there’ll be a statement in the Commons on Sue Gray today.. ministers getting in their cars and leaving Parliament, including Michael Gove, Nadhim Zahawi, Nadine Dorries.
— Peter Saull (@petesaull) January 26, 2022
In the Commons the adjournment debate, the final piece of business before the adjournment, has just started.
In response to a point of order, Rosie Winterton, the deputy Speaker, told MPs that the Speaker’s office has not yet had a request from the government to schedule a statement on the Sue Gray report later today.
She said that if such request came in before the end of the adjournment debate, the sitting could be suspended and a statement could be scheduled for later tonight. But if the house adjourns first, that won’t be an option, she said.
Adjournment debates normally last just half an hour. Sky’s Jon Craig says a minister told him not to expect the Gray report tonight.
With adjournment debate about to start, senior Cabinet minister tells me: “I think you can safely have an early night tonight.” Some backbenchers now predicting no PM statement on Gray report until Monday.
— Jon Craig (@joncraig) January 26, 2022
Updated
A senior former Whitehall official said legal complications with the publication of Sue Gray’s report were likely to be guided by police advice and the possibility of prejudicing any future criminal trial.
But, given the Met police are understood to have broadly agreed to have the report published, the risk of any offences proceeding to criminal trial are low – the offences carry fixed penalty notices.
The other risk government lawyers will be considering is the risk of defamation of those named in the report – if they contest its findings or believe that things have been published that are known to be untrue.
Again, it is unlikely to be a great risk, especially as there may be an argument the report has qualified privilege.
The main argument against publishing all the evidence Gray has collated is a fairness point: junior officials who carried the cake into the cabinet room would face disproportionate harm if they were named.
Instead, the official said, Gray’s report was unlikely to contain any photos or lurid WhatsApp, but to take a broader view of the facts of the different events and the culture that developed in Downing Street under senior leadership, including the prime minister.
Updated
My colleague Aubrey Allegretti says time is running out for a statement in the Commons on the Gray report today.
Time left for the PM to make a statement in the Commons today if Gray report lands is shrinking - Tory whips warn “business is moving quicker than expected”.
— Aubrey Allegretti (@breeallegretti) January 26, 2022
The FT’s Robert Shrimsley says it would suit No 10 for the report to come out this evening.
If I were devising a press strategy for a really nasty report I'd put it out around 7/8pm after the early evening news and when it is tight for papers to do much more than a quick splash.
— robert shrimsley (@robertshrimsley) January 26, 2022
You've still got the web but its still getting late. Then at about 9am (1/2)
From ITV’s Anushka Asthana
New: Hearing the prime minister is telling MPs (who say they are getting more time with the PM than they ever imagined) that this is a media / Labour witch-hunt, that he’s been through worse before and that he’s bounced back before and will do so again.
— Anushka Asthana (@AnushkaAsthana) January 26, 2022
In the Commons the Labour MP Chris Bryant and the Lib Dem MP Layla Moran both raised the discrepancy between what Boris Johnson said in the past about his involvement in the decision to allow animals to be evacuated from Kabul with support from the MoD, and the revelation today that he was involved. (See 1.47pm and 2.17pm.) Bryant said:
The prime minister said on August 26 that he had no influence on that particular case and nor would that be right. On December 7 he was asked ‘Did you intervene to get Pen Farthing’s animals out?’ He said: ‘No, that is complete nonsense.’ And a Downing Street spokesperson said: ‘Neither the prime minister nor Mrs Johnson were involved.’
Yet today the foreign affairs committee has been able to publish a letter from Lord Goldsmith’s office which says the ‘prime minister has just authorised their staff and animals to be evacuated’. How can I get to the bottom of who is telling the truth?
And Moran asked what could be done to ensure these “discrepancies” were “clarified”.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, said that if ministers made incorrect statements to MPs, they should correct the record as soon as possible. He also said he expected that to happen in this case, and he urged Bryant and Moran to pursue the matter further.
Updated
Speaker says he would allow statement from PM later this evening on Gray report if necessary
Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the Commons, told MPs during points of order that he was committed to ensuring that they get time to read the Sue Gray report before Boris Johnson takes questions on it in the chamber.
He was responding to a question from Peter Bone (Con), who wanted an assurance that if the report were released on Thursday, there would be a statement in the Commons on Friday. Hoyle replied:
The prime minister has promised to make a statement. What I would expect is that members will be able to see the report and I would hope time will be given for members to digest that.
Hoyle also said that he would be happy to adjourn the house at some point this afternoon, and schedule a statement in the evening, if necessary. He said:
I’m more than happy to adjourn and leave it until later tonight if it arrives now, to give good time, I’m happy to work with the leader of the house to ensure this house is treated correctly, fairly and in the right manner.
So I reassure him that those conversations between my office and the leader’s office, as well as Downing Street, are taking place to do the right thing by this house.
Updated
No 10 backs away from previous claims that Johnson had no involvement in authorising rescue of animals from Kabul
And here is a summary of the main lines from the post-PMQs Downing Street lobby briefing.
- No 10 said it still had not received Sue Gray’s report. (See 1.25pm.)
- The prime minister’s spokesman backed away from past claims that Boris Johnson had no involvement in the government’s decision to allow dogs and cats from animal rescue home run by a former British soldier to be evacuated from Kabul last summer. At the the decision provoked outrage because of the implication - denied by the MoD - that this used up resources that could have been used to help humans. Last month Johnson said the claim that he was personally involved was “complete nonsense”.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson denies the allegation that he prioritised the evacuation of Pen Farthing's animals over people during Britain's evacuation from Afghanistan.
— Sky News (@SkyNews) December 7, 2021
Read more here: https://t.co/Kh447OpWqk pic.twitter.com/HLWWrlORN1
But today Johnson’s spokesman said: “It remains the case that the PM didn’t instruct officials to take any particular course of action.”
- The spokesman said he was not aware of any plans by the Metropolitan police to interview Johnson over parties at No 10.
- The spokesman said Johnon intended to publish the findings of the Sue Gray report as they were received. He said:
The findings will be made public in line with the terms of reference. It is our intention to publish those findings as received.
Updated
Starmer tells Boris Johnson to resign immediately for misleading parliament
Here is my colleague Peter Walker’s story about the Johnson/Starmer exchanges at PMQs.
Emails suggest Boris Johnson authorised Afghan animal rescue despite denials
Foreign Office emails appear to contradict Downing Street denials that Boris Johnson did not personally authorise the controversial rescue of cats and dogs from a British animal charity in Afghanistan, my colleague Dan Sabbagh reports. His story is here.
With Johnson already trying to fend off claims that the partygate revelations have highlighted his lack of honesty, this story has landed at a particularly damaging time because it adds to the charge sheet against him.
In December last year Johnson said it was “complete nonsense” to claim he intervened to help the rescue of the animals during the evacuation in Kabul earlier in the summer.
Asked at the post-PMQs lobby briefing about the latest revelations, the prime minister’s spokesman said: “It remains the case that the PM didn’t instruct officials to take any particular course of action.”
Updated
No 10 says it has still not received Sue Gray's report
Downing Street has still not received the Sue Gray report, the PM’s spokesman told journalists at the post-PMQs lobby briefing.
This means that the likelihood of publication being delayed until tomorrow is increasing.
I will post a full summary from the briefing shortly.
Updated
PMQs – snap verdict
Many people consider exchanges at PMQs largely pointless and, while sometimes they illuminate the key policy arguments dividing the parties, often they don’t. Today the Johnson/Starmer contest was in that category. It did not really take us anywhere.
But often the real audience for PMQs is not the public at large, but those in the chamber, and today – more than usual – it sounded as though Boris Johnson was primarily interested in shoring up his standing with Conservative MPs. It is quite possible that the Sue Gray report (about which we learned nothing new today, not even its timing) will trigger a Tory no-confidence vote. If so, Johnson will have to appear at a 1922 Committee hustings (a hustings against himself, in effect). If you want to understand what he was up to at PMQs today, think of it as a rehearsal for the speech he will give there.
What did we learn? The main thing, probably, was just that he is up for the fight. The figure we saw in that TV interview with Beth Rigby eight days ago seems to have vanished. Otherwise the pitch was the usual mixture of boosterism and dishonesty (the claim the government is cutting tax is particularly egregious), although Johnson did seem to be hardening his language on the Northern Ireland protocol. (See 12.28pm.) Johnson did deploy a new attack line against Keir Starmer, “a lawyer not a leader”, which worked reasonably well in the chamber. Interestingly, the former Ukip MEP Patrick O’Flynn claimed he used it first in a Telegraph column.
Judging by the noise, all this went down well with Tory MPs. But you know what? At PMQs, or in the chamber generally, you can’t judge by the noise. MPs, particularly Conservative ones, are very capable of cheering a leader to the rafters while privately disparaging them and doing their best to remove them. It probably is the case that some Johnson loyalists have become more willing to rally to his side in recent days (we saw that in the Michael Ellis UQ yesterday), but it would be a mistake to interpret the noise level this afternoon as firm evidence that opinion is shifting back in Johnson’s favour within his parliamentary party.
Starmer was suitably withering, but it felt as if he is holding back until his next encounter with Johnson – later today or tomorrow – once the Gray report is out. He got Johnson to confirm that he accepts the rule that he must resign if he has misled parliament, and then he argued that Johnson’s comments about partying at No 10 last year clearly show that he did lie. Some of Johnson’s critics believe that this ought to be what forces him to go, but parliament does not really have a body willing to arbitrate on these matters (apart from the standards committee, which has shown no interest in becoming a PMQs fact-checking body), and Johnson can argue that his “rules followed at all times” statements either applied to specific dates, or were true to the best of his knowledge. (The ministerial code says “knowingly” misleading the Commons is the problem, not any misleading.) Starmer dropped this line of attack after his second question, perhaps suggesting he thinks there are limits to how far it will take him.
Johnson used the “lawyer not leader” jibe in his final answer, and so Starmer did not have a chance to reply. But Lloyd Russell-Moyle, a Labour Corbynite with form for parliamentary hooliganism, rode to his defence by declaring: “I would prefer to be led by a lawyer than a liar.” He received the expected rebuke from the Speaker, but it was the best retort of the entire session, and not a bad slogan for the opposition.
Updated
Rob Butler (Con) says there is a real threat of China invading Taiwan. Will the government always stand up for freedom and democracy?
Johnson says the recent Chinese flights near Taiwan are not conducive to peace and stability.
And that’s it. PMQs is over.
Richard Burgon (Lab) says a nurse who organised a demonstration against pay cuts was fined £10,000. “For God’s sake, resign,” he says.
Johnson says of course the Labour party want him to resign. Labour has nothing to say, he says.
Updated
John McNally (SNP) asks about spending on zero-emission buses.
Johnson says there has never in this country been “such a bonanza for buses”. He wants to see all parts of the UK benefit.
Rushanara Ali (Lab) says instead of writing off loans to fraudsters, Johnson should write his resignation letter to the Queen.
Johnson says the Tories are the party of hope and opportunity.
Sir Mike Penning (Con) asks about a meeting on a new hospital in Hemel Hempstead. The PM promised that at a previous PMQs. Penning says he was finally offered the meeting last night. Instead he asks about making medical cannabis more easily available for children who need it.
Johnson says he backs that, provided the MHRA approves that.
Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Lab) says “happy unbirthday” to Johnson. Like the Mad Hatter, Johnson does not need a birthday for an excuse for a party. He says his constituents think Johnson is a liar. He repeats the point, prompting the Speaker to intervene. Russell-Moyle then goes on:
I would prefer to be led by a lawyer than a liar. Will he now resign?
The Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, tells Russell-Moyle to withdraw that. He does.
Johnson says Russell-Moyle does not know what he is talking about.
Johnson claims EU implementing Northern Ireland protocol in 'insane' manner
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP leader, says the Northern Ireland protocol has added 27% to the cost of bringing goods to Northern Ireland from Britain. Will the government restore NI’s place in the UK single market?
Johnson says he agrees. He says 200 businesses have stopped supplying NI. The EU is implementing the protocol in an “insane and pettifogging way”, he claims.
Updated
Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, says the PM is being investigated by the police for breaking his own laws. Every moment he stays he drags out the agony for families. When will he go?
Johnson says Blackford made the same point last week. He was wrong then and is wrong now, he says.
Blackford says every moment the PM lingers, he is sucking attention from the real issues facing the public. The national insurance hike “hangs like a guillotine while they eat cake”. It is time for the PM to get this over with, and go.
Johnson says he is not sure who has been eating most cake (a reference to Blackford’s waistline). And he says (as he often does at PMQs) that in private he gets on well with Blackford. (This is not intended to be helpful to Blackford in Scotland.)
Updated
Simon Baynes (Con) asks about the levelling up fund.
Johnson says he once fought Clwyd South, the seat now represented by Baynes. He says the government is levelling up.
Starmer says we have the spectacle of a PM under police investigation. And as the cabinet refuse to speak out, they become more complicit. He says whatever Johnson says in his statement today or tomorrow, the PM has not shown respect for this country.
No, says Johnson. He says Starmer wants him out of the way. Many people do, he says. He say Starmer wants him out because he can be trusted to deliver. He delivered Brexit and the vaccine programme, he says. He says he is going to unite and level up. The problem for Labour is that Starmer is “a lawyer not a leader”. He has taken the tough decisions, and got the big calls right. He is “getting on with the job”.
Updated
Starmer says the cabinet has treated Scotland with “utter disdain”. He is referring to Jacob Rees-Mogg’s comments about Douglas Ross.
Johnson claims he has been focusing on the NHS. There are more NHS staff, and the government is fixing social care. Labour has no plan. “Vote Labour, wait longer,” he says.
Starmer says the PM went into hiding for five days because of these allegations.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, intervenes to say the jeering is too loud.
Starmer says No 10 has said the full report will be published, not a summary or edited copy. Will it be published when the PM receives it?
Johnson says he will do “exactly what he said”. But people want to hear what the government is doing to help people with issuess like the cost of living. The government is cutting tax, he claims. And he claims Labour wants to abolish universal credit.
Starmer turns to the police decision to investigate No 10. As Tories heckle, he tells the PM:
If you do not understand the significance of what happened yesterday, I really do despair.
He says the police said they would only investigate the most “flagrant” breaches of the rules. And he refers to the threshold passed for the police to investigate.
Johnson claims there is no way he can comment on these issues. He says he is focusing on bringing the west together to threaten Russia with the toughest package of sanctions. Starmer needs to “raise his game”, he says.
Updated
Starmer says Johnson has confirmed he must resign he if misled parliament. He says he told MPs last year that the guidance was followed completely, and there was no party. So will he resign?
No, says Johnson. He says Starmer has been “relentlessly opportunistic”. Labour would have kept the country in lockdown, he says. He calls Starmer “Captain Hindsight” and says he (Johnson) got all the big calls right.
Updated
Keir Starmer asks if Johnson thinks the part of the ministerial code saying that ministers who knowingly mislead parliament must resign applies to him.
Yes, says Johnson. But he says Starmer is trying to get him to comment on something in advance he cannot comment on yet.
He is launching a plan tomorrow to get 500,000 people off welfare and into work, he says.
Updated
Craig Tracey (Con) asks the PM to join him in thanking health service workers. Will he issue a medal to all key workers who served during the pandemic?
Johnson says he supports the plan for a medal by Tracey’s local hospital.
Kate Osamor (Lab) asks if the PM agreed with the chancellor to write off £4.3bn of fraud.
Of course not, says Johnson. Everyone should be proud of the huge effort made by government to secure PPE and ventilators, he says.
Johnson starts by saying Sunday is the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. We should learn from the past, reconcile and build a peaceful future, he says.
Boris Johnson gets loud cheers as he enters the chamber.
Updated
From the Independent’s John Rentoul
Simon Clarke, chief sec to Treas, pats PM on shoulder as if commiserating as he waits for #PMQs
— John Rentoul (@JohnRentoul) January 26, 2022
Paul Waugh from the i wonders if this will come up at PMQs today.
Wonder if this will get a mention in #PMQs today? https://t.co/anBiG9u8Uw
— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) January 26, 2022
From my colleague Peter Walker, who has been watching Northern Ireland questions in the Commons
During Northern Ireland questions before PMQs, the SNP's Richard Thomson argues that when it comes to Brexit the government has been "ambushed not so much by cake as by reality". This phrase will run and run.
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) January 26, 2022
PMQs
PMQs is starting shortly.
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.
Boris Johnson will be leaving Downing Street for PMQs shortly. Here is the scene outside his front door. This is from Sky’s Joshua Masters.
Number 10 today before PMQs. pic.twitter.com/oprMsQMwZF
— Joshua Masters🎥 (@joshuamasters_) January 26, 2022
Ipsos Mori has published polling this morning suggesting that the proportion of people saying lack of faith in politicians is a big issue for this country, at 25%, is at its highest level since the pollster started recording this in 2016. This is from Ipsos Mori’s Michael Clemence.
NEW: first @ipsosmori issues index of 2022
— Michael Clemence (@mwclemence) January 26, 2022
We see "lack of faith in politicians" rising to become the second biggest issue, with its highest recorded score
More here:https://t.co/dtG8nlr0kr pic.twitter.com/AsE0tv7wsz
Updated
There will be an urgent question in the Commons at 12.30pm, after PMQs, on proposals for an economic crime bill.
Although the main factor that will determine whether or not Conservative MPs decide to replace Boris Johnson as party leader will be their assessment as to whether or not keeping him will increase or decrease their chances at the next election, for some of them policy and ideology will be relevant too. A new leader would have more opportunity to change course.
With this in mind it is worth noting that Lord Frost, who resigned as Brexit minister before Christmas, restated his call last night for the government to embrace a low tax agenda. He was endorsing a column by Philip Johnston in the Daily Telegraph.
This is correct - from @PhilJTelegraph via @Telegraph.
— David Frost (@DavidGHFrost) January 25, 2022
"If Boris survives this mess, he needs to start governing as a Conservative." https://t.co/mPdHIm3JCL pic.twitter.com/yiePyyr5xc
Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, is understood to be one of the cabinet ministers most likely to agree with David Frost on this, and most sceptical about the case for the £12bn national insurance increase the government is going ahead with in April. But, in her Sky News interview, asked if the increase would be reconsidered, she replied: “No.” She said:
Cabinet has made the decision to proceed with the National Insurance increase and we’re all behind that, and there are no plans to change that.
And later told LBC: “The decision has been made on national insurance, that was a collective decision and it’s going ahead.”
Truss gave a firmer answer on this than Johnson himself did on Monday, when he refused to firmly commit to the national insurance increase going ahead.
Updated
Sir Bob Neill, the Conservative MP and chair of the Commons justice committee, says Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, was talking “nonsense” last night when he argued that a new prime minister would have to call a general election. (See 8.49am.)
Whatever one’s views on the PM, it has to be said that this proposition is constitutional and legal nonsense., and, ironically, wholly inconsistent with the doctrine of the supremacy of Parliament. https://t.co/xSmnwqVBmy
— Sir Bob Neill MP (@neill_bob) January 26, 2022
Newsnight’s Lewis Goodall says the Sue Gray report will definitely be formally handed over to No 10 today. But that does not guarantee it will be published today.
WH means Whitehall (not the Biden administration).
Still much uncertainty but fwiw am told by WH sources that Gray report will “100%” be handed over today. Also told that Gray has already briefed No10 on contents and that “it’s not good news.”
— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) January 26, 2022
Doesn’t mean we’ll see it today, of course, nor exactly what we’ll see when we do.
The Lib Dems are arguing that Boris Johnson should be placed on gardening leave while under investigation by the police, in line with what happens in other workplaces when someone is subject to disciplinary proceedings. In a statement Alastair Carmichael, the Lib Dems’ home affairs spokesperson, said:
Since Boris Johnson is such a fan of spending time in his garden, it’s only fitting that he be placed on gardening leave and leave Number 10 whilst the police investigate. This will ensure he cannot try and abuse his position to get himself off the hook.
Refusing to do so will show both the Conservatives’ utter contempt for the public and erode trust in this government even further.
Arguably this is softening of the Lib Dem position; until now, they have been saying he should just resign.
Unsurprisingly, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, approves of the Daily Mail’s take on partygate.
The Mail is right, we need a sense of proportion. pic.twitter.com/DOjIuofH7B
— Jacob Rees-Mogg (@Jacob_Rees_Mogg) January 26, 2022
These are from ITV’s political editor Robert Peston, explaining what he thinks is going on with the Sue Gray report.
There is quite a lot of misinformation and rumour going around about the Sue Gray report. So here is now my best understanding of where we are. The likelihood is that it will be published today, though that is not definite. The uncertainty hinges around final bureaucratic…
— Robert Peston (@Peston) January 26, 2022
processes that need to be undergone, such as checking with the Met Police that there is nothing in it that would prejudice their criminal investigation, and running it past Whitehall human resources and government lawyers. I am told categorically that the PM has…
— Robert Peston (@Peston) January 26, 2022
committed to publish in full whatever Gray gives him, which in that sense will be the full report, not a summary, and that Downing St will not play politics with it. We’ll see. And if there are excisions, they will largely be of explosive detail relevant to the police…
— Robert Peston (@Peston) January 26, 2022
inquiry, but the report will still “be worth reading”.
— Robert Peston (@Peston) January 26, 2022
The Daily Mail has been more supportive of Boris Johnson in recent weeks than any other paper and this morning it has splashed on a story premised on the notion that Johnson’s critics are failing to maintain a sense of proportion over the importance of partygate.
MAIL: A nation that’s lost all sense of proportion #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/Lbu734WTVN
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) January 25, 2022
In his Today interview this morning Chris Bryant, the Labour MP who chairs the Commons standards committee, said that Johnson’s allies must be “utterly stupid” if they expected people to accept this argument. He explained:
If I could just say something about this argument that Boris Johnson’s henchmen are advancing, that this is all small beer and we should all just forget about it... This whole idea that the prime minister was ambushed by a cake and all of that ... I honestly do think that they think that the British people must be utterly stupid.
The truth of the matter is that this is a pattern of behaviour.
It’s not just one event, it’s dozens of events, and every single one of us can recite a moment when a family member had to do without.
The line about the prime minister being “ambushed by cake”, at the suprrise birthday event laid on for him in the cabinet room when indoor social gatherings were against the rules, came from Johnson loyalist Conor Burns. Burns, a Northern Ireland minister, told Channel 4 News last night: “As far as I can see, he was, in a sense, ambushed with a cake. They came to his office with a cake, they sang Happy Birthday, he was there for 10 minutes. I don’t think most people looking at that at home would characterise that as a party.”
James Forsyth, the Spectator’s political editor, says Jacob Rees-Mogg’s claim last night that a new Conservative leader would have to call a general election (see 8.49am) has gone down badly with some Tory MPs.
Wee bit of a backlash among Tory MPs this morning to Jacob Rees-Mogg’s election comments. Feeling that, like his swipe at Douglas Ross, it is a bit scorched earth. Johnson’s allies would be better off trying to calm things down with Tory MPs, rather than raising the temperature
— James Forsyth (@JGForsyth) January 26, 2022
Chris Bryant, the Labour MP who chairs the Commons standards committee, told the Today programme this morning that Boris Johnson thought he was “above the law” and that Johnson thought it did not matter if people at Downing Street ignored rules everyone else was following. Bryant said:
This is why it’s utterly despicable that we’ve had to go through all of this, because you’ve got the complete erosion of the prime minister’s moral authority because of this pattern of behaviour.
It’s so disrespectful to the bus drivers, the nurses in ICU and everybody else that Tory MPs come on the air and say ‘Well, all these people in Downing Street, we’re working terribly hard.’ Well, I’m sorry, everybody was working terribly hard.
The Conservative MP Robert Halfon, chair of the Commons education committee, told Times Radio this morning that he would like to see Boris Johnson “respond and take responsibility” for partygate. He said:
I don’t need Sue Gray or the police to tell me or my constituents of Harlow that what’s gone on has been pretty awful. We all feel let down and disappointed.
We’ve just been talking about education and what I’d say is, I call it the three Rs, I’d like to see the three Rs from the prime minister.
How he’s going to respond to the anguish and upset from the public, how he’s going to take responsibility himself and his own staff and how he’s going to reset the government. I’ll wait for the parliamentary statement.
Here is a question from below the line worth answering up here.
The answer is no.
The Green party peer Jenny Jones said yesterday she would like the police to consider whether Boris Johnson or others are guilty of this offence. The lawyer Adam Wagner has also speculated on Twitter about this being a possibility.
Misconduct in public office carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, so clearly an investigation on these grounds would somewhat escalate the seriousness of this crisis.
But yesterday Dame Cressida Dick, the commissioner of the Metropolitan police, said clearly that the new investigation into Downing Street related to “potential breaches of Covid-19 regulations”. And she said that if the inquiry did lead to action being taken against anyone, the penalty would be a fine.
Johnson’s critics sometimes argue a misconduct in public office prosecution against him would be justified, and this was one recommendation from the People’s Covid Inquiry last year. But, although prosecutions under this offence have been going up in recent years, it is still seen as a relatively archaic offence, and it tends to be used to prosecute corrupt public officials. There is no recent precedent for it being used against a government minister.
In an article for Politico Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, has restated her party’s call for Boris Johnson’s resignation. “We don’t need the Sue Gray report to know that Boris Johnson needs to go,” she says.
Rayner also argues that the rest of the cabinet is at fault for defending him.
It’s not just the prime minister playing the British people for fools. The rest of the cabinet have spent weeks defending the indefensible when in reality, like the rest of us, they could see through the lies and deceit.
It’s not good enough for them to now say, “not me pal.” They had the chance to stand up for decency in public life. Instead, they appeared on the television day after day, more concerned with trying to save their jobs than doing the right thing. But the British people aren’t fools, and they won’t forget or forgive ministers who stood by as the prime minister partied and the rest of us followed the rules.
Why Rees-Mogg thinks move to 'presidential system' means new PM would have to call election
In her Today interview Liz Truss was asked about something Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, said on Newsnight last night. The very fact that Rees-Mogg was on Newsnight was notable in itself. For much of his cabinet career No 10 would not let him anywhere near big, mainstream broadcast interviews, because he was seen as too much of a liability. But enthusiastic supporers of Boris Johnson are in short supply in the government, and Rees-Mogg has now been on Newsnight twice within a fortnight. His first appearance saw him calling the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Douglas Ross, “a lightweight” (Ross has called for Johnson to resign), a comment that offended not just Ross, but much of Scotland.
Last night Rees-Mogg used his interview to advance an interesting, but novel, constitutional theory. Johnson’s acolytes in the Conservative party are telling MPs that, if they vote to replace him, the new prime minister will be obliged to call a general election - a prospect that should be unappealing to Tories with the party well behind in the polls (by eight points, according to this one from yesterday). Technically, this is untrue. Within the last 40 years, John Major, Gordon Brown and Theresa May all became prime minister without feeling the need to call a swift election. But Rees-Mogg told the Newsnight:
It is my view that we’ve moved, for better or worse, to essentially a presidential system, and therefore the mandate is personal rather than entirely party, and any PM would be very well advised to seek a fresh mandate. Gordon Brown didn’t and that didn’t work; Boris Johnson did and that did work.
I think the days of Macmillan taking over from Eden or even Callaghan taking from Wilson no longer get the mood of the constitution and our constitution evolves. So I my view a change of leader requires a general election.
This may come as a surprise to those who thought people like Rees-Mogg favoured Brexit because it would restore the primacy of parliament, not a president.
The historian Robert Saunders has an interesting Twitter thread on Rees-Mogg’s argument starting here.
This has never been true (think Callaghan, Major, Brown, May, Johnson...) Its logic - that the mandate belongs to the PM, & that MPs alone have no right to remove it - would disable the core principle of a parliamentary constitution: that a PM must have the confidence of Parlt. https://t.co/zC2KnOgVyZ
— Robert Saunders (@redhistorian) January 26, 2022
Q: Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, said last night that if Boris Johnson were replaced, there would have to be a general election. Do you agree?
That is completely hypothetical, Truss says.
Q: MPs are talking about you becoming the next Tory leader. Is that your ambition?
Truss says she wants Johnson to continue in his job. “He is doing a great job, I support him 100%,” she says.
And that’s it.
The Truss interview is moving on to partygate.
Q: How serious is the police investigation?
Truss says they are awaiting the Sue Gray report. She does not want to pre-judge that. “I suspect we won’t have much longer to wait.”
Q: But we know what the Met police commissioner said. She said the evidence met the threshold for “the most serious and flagrant” breach of the rules.
Truss says it is best to wait for the investigation.
Only once the evidence has been examined can the police come to a decision.
Q: Was the PM blind to this when he told the Commons repeatedly he had no evidence of rule breaking.
Truss says she does not know what happened.
Q: Do you take him at his word when he says no rules were broken?
Truss says she takes him at his word.
Q: Would he have to resign if fined? Some people say this would be no more serious than a speeding fine.
Truss says she won’t answer a hypothetical question.
Q: Has trust been lost?
Truss says she wants to wait for the full report to see what it says.
The PM has admitted mistakes have been made. “Clearly things will have to be looked.”
Q: You accept political damage has been done?
Truss says the PM himself has said mistakes were made, which implies there will need to be changes.
Martha Kearney is now interviewing Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, on the Today programme now.
They start with Ukraine. Truss says the UK has ruled nothing out in terms of the sanctions it might impose on Russia in the event of an invasion. Sanctions would cover financial institutions and individuals, she says.
In her Sky News interview Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, said she supported Boris Johnson 100%. She said:
The prime minister has appeared before parliament, he has apologised for what has happened. He’s admitted that mistakes were made and I 100% support him, and want him to continue as prime minister.
Boris Johnson does not yet have Sue Gray’s report, says Liz Truss
Good morning. The much-awaited report from the civil servant Sue Gray into partygate - which has joined the small and select group of official Whitehall reports in history seen as having the potential to end a prime minister’s career - may be published later today. Or it may not come until tomorrow. As I write, to the immense frustration of the Westminster political-media establishment, and many others, no one actually knows. Sorry about that.
But we do know that the report has not yet officially been handed over to Downing Street, because Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, has said so her morning interview round. Asked if No 10 had yet to receive it, she told Sky News within the last hour:
That’s correct. And, of course, it’s an independent report, it’s a matter for Sue Gray when she sends that report, when she’s completed her work.
Truss also said that “security issues” might prevent parts of the report from being published.
We have been absolutely clear that we will publish the findings of the report. We don’t know the content of the report, so there could be, for example, security issues that mean parts of it are problematic to publish. But we will absolutely publish the findings of the report.
Boris Johnson has indicated that he will publish the report very soon after receiving it, and make a statement about it to the Commons. The fact that it is still not yet on his desk means that such a statement is extremely unlikely to happen straight after PMQs, although potentially he could come back to parliament later. Or he could wait until tomorrow.
Once the report is out, and particularly if it is anything like as damning as some commentators suggest, Conservative MPs who have been holding back from demanding a vote of no confidence in the prime minister could submit the necessary letters to the 1922 Committee chairman, Sir Graham Brady. There is a very real chance of that vote happening before the end of the week.
Today I will be focusing almost exclusively on this story.
Here is our overnight preview.
And here is my colleague Heather Stewart’s guide to the key questions the Gray report could answer.
I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to holdinanswer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.
If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
Alternatively, you can email me at andrew.sparrow@theguardian.com
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