Boris Johnson has admitted the Partygate saga has been a “totally miserable experience” for him and those working in Whitehall, but insisted he would not resign.
The prime minister was grilled over the scandal by Mumsnet users on Wednesday – with one member asking him how the public could believe a “habitual liar”.
Mr Johnson was coming under continued pressure over his handling of the Partygate scandal, with Tory MP Simon Fell telling constituents that “a failure in leadership” had resulted in “unforgiveable” behaviour in No 10 during the Covid lockdowns, and adding that “apologising after the fact is insufficient”.
The Cabinet Office was forced to deny reports that the PM’s independent ethics adviser Lord Geidt was on the verge of resigning, after he complained that Mr Johnson had ignored his repeated advice to make a public statement on “legitimate” questions over whether he had breached the ministerial code of conduct.
It came as deputy prime minister Dominic Raab dismissed the idea that Mr Johnson could face a confidence vote as early as next week, telling the BBC: “I don’t think this ends in a leadership challenge.”
There is a growing belief it is only a matter of time before the threshold of 54 no-confidence letters needed to trigger a vote is reached, with more than 40 MPs openly questioning his leadership.
But culture secretary Nadine Dorries claimed efforts to topple the PM are being co-ordinated by “one or two individuals” for reasons of “personal ambition” and insisted that “the overwhelming number” of Tory MPs continue to back him.
Mr Johnson “apologised very much” for his behaviour over Partygate, but said he was “very, very surprised and taken aback” to be fined by the Metropolitan Police for attending a birthday party in his honour in June 2020.
He told Mumsnet: “I can totally see how infuriating it is that people like me were not fulfilling the letter of the rules ourselves. I totally understand that.”
Asked about the political pressure he is now under, Mr Johnson acknowledged: “I’m not going to deny the whole thing hasn’t been a totally miserable experience for people in government.”
But he insisted he would not resign. “I just cannot see how actually it would be responsible right now, given everything that is going on, simply to abandon … the project on which I embarked to level up.”
The PM added: “On why I am still here – I am still here because we have got huge pressures economically and we’ve got the biggest war in Europe for 80 years, and we have got a massive agenda to deliver.”
Mr Johnson also revealed that he did not eat any birthday cake at the June 2020 event which saw him receive a fixed penalty notice for a breach of his Covid laws.
“If you’re talking about that miserable event that appeared on the front page of newspapers, no cake was consumed by me – I can tell you that much,” he joked.
Explaining his attendance at the birthday bash, he said: “If people look at the event in question, it felt to me like a work event. I was there for a very short period of time.”
Referring to his attendance at several leaving drinks, for which he was not punished, the PM said: “I genuinely believed that what I was doing – and I know why people may think it’s not good enough – but what I believed I was doing was saying goodbye briefly to hard-working staff.”
He added: “What I thought was doing was right for a leader, in any circumstances, and that was to thank people for their service.”
Mr Johnson also vowed that the government would continue to use “fiscal firepower” to address the cost of living crisis as energy bills and food prices soar.
Asked how he could understand the struggles of the worst-off families, the PM said: “I try as much as I can to talk to my constituents. I recognise the country is going through a tough time.”
He also promised that the government would do more to promote an existing £2,000 childcare grant. “There are things that aren’t working right. The take-up is disappointingly low … About a million people who are eligible don’t take it up. And that’s crazy.”
Mr Johnson also said he was “doing a lot” as a parent at the moment – revealing that he had “changed a lot of nappies recently”.
He said the Dr Suess books were his favourite as a child, quoting the line: “This was no time for play. This was no time for fun. This was no time for games. There was work to be done”. He claimed it was the “motto” at No 10.
In a letter to a constituent, Mr Fell said he was left “angry and disappointed” by the Sue Gray report – saying there had been a “corrosive culture and failure of leadership” during Partygate.
But the MP for Barrow & Furness did not call on Mr Johnson to quit and gave no indication that he had sent a letter of no-confidence.
Tory MP Huw Merriman confirmed he would not be submitting a no confidence letter against Mr Johnson, and appealed for colleagues to focus on delivering policies rather than regime change.
“My appeal to colleagues is that our constituents need us right now and they need the government to deliver and parliament to deliver,” he told Sky News. “We’re not going to be able to do that if we are going through a protracted leadership contest.”
