A Tory MP suggested Boris Johnson was ‘ambushed by a cake’
(Picture: Twitter)One of Boris Johnson's closest allies has faced a wave of mockery after stating the prime minister was "ambushed with a cake" during a lockdown "birthday bash" in Downing Street.
Senior Tories, opposition MPs and even celebrity chefs rounded on Northern Ireland minister Conor Burns on Wednesday after he said Mr Johnson had not been involved in a “premeditated” party in No10.
He told Channel 4 News, on Tuesday evening, that the PM was working in the Cabinet Room on June 19 2020 before staff came in and presented him with a birthday cake.
“It was not a premeditated, organised party,” the MP for Bournemouth West said. "He was, in a sense, ambushed with a cake.”
Conservative Caroline Nokes, chairwoman of the Commons Women and Equalities Committee, tweeted a photo of a dessert menu and joked she was "trying to work out which one is most dangerous".
There is, as yet, no confirmation that Sue Gray or the Met have interviewed the cake which ambushed the Prime Minister. Here’s hoping we get answers in the morning.
— Nick Robinson (@bbcnickrobinson) January 25, 2022
Tory MP Simon Hoare, chairman of the Northern Ireland Select Committee, said: “Survived making my breakfast following a surprise encounter with a feisty French Fancy lying in wait with a tooled up sponge finger in the kitchen . We live in dangerous times people; dangerous times. Take care out there!”
TV presenter Nick Robinson joked: "There is, as yet, no confirmation that Sue Gray or the Met have interviewed the cake which ambushed the Prime Minister. Here’s hoping we get answers in the morning."
TV cook Nigella Lawson tweeted that the term “ambushed by cake” would make the perfect title for a recipe book.
When Mr Burns said she was more than welcome to use the name if she included his “Granny’s Christmas cake recipe”, Ms Lawson was unimpressed, responding: “This is too meta. Plus, you think it’s a joke? Says it all.”
Others also berated those making light of the alleged illegal parties that took place in Downing Street when Covid restrictions banned social gatherings.
Senior civil servant Sue Gray is understood to be investigating 16 parties, more than half of which are now also being probed by Met detectives.
"He was in a sense, ambushed by cake"#AmbushedByCake pic.twitter.com/MaeUJUvoTK
— Male Political Haircuts 💈💇♂️ (@politicaltrims) January 25, 2022
Chris Bryant told BBC Radio 4 that the alleged breaches were a “pattern of behaviour” carried out while families across the country had been forced to “do without”.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
Mr Johnson is set to face a grilling about No10 parties from MPs at PMQs on Wednesday as the results of the internal inquiry loom.
Trying to work out which one is most dangerous pic.twitter.com/xMPo4qsAH9
— Caroline Nokes MP (@carolinenokes) January 25, 2022
In what is likely to be read as a warning to wavering rebels, Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg said an replacement PM in Downing Street would have to go to the polls to seek a fresh mandate.
He told Newsnight: “We’re taking about a slice of cake – we have no sense of proportionality,”
He added: "It is my view that we have moved, for better or worse, to essentially a presidential system and that therefore the mandate is personal rather than entirely party, and that any prime minister would be very well advised to seek a fresh mandate."
Mr Rees-Mogg, asked whether the PM should resign if there is a photograph of him at a drinks party in No 10, urged for people to wait for Ms Gray's report.
"Trying to speculate on bits of gossip and tittle-tattle around the report doesn't really get us anywhere," he said.
Survived making my breakfast following a surprise encounter with a feisty French Fancy lying in wait with a tooled up sponge finger in the kitchen . We live in dangerous times people; dangerous times. Take care out there!
— Simon Hoare MP (@Simon4NDorset) January 26, 2022
But Conservative peer Lord Finkelstein said: "Jacob Rees Mogg says both inaccurately and intellectually offensively that this is a row about cake- this is a row about whether governments are subject to the laws they set, which is a far more profound question than about birthday cake."
Foreign secretary Liz Truss refused to be drawn into the cake row this morning.
She told LBC : “I don’t think it’s a good idea to comment on these claims before we’ve seen the results of the report, so I’m waiting for the report, which is going to present all of the facts of the case.”
