The Partygate scandal “damaged trust", Rishi Sunak admitted today in a further sign of his strained relations with Boris Johnson.
The pair will put on a show of unity on Wednesday when the Chancellor delivers his Spring Statement mini-Budget immediately after Prime Minister’s Questions.
But despite the war in Ukraine and deepening cost-of-living crisis, the ongoing fury at lockdown-busting, boozy bashes in No10 continues to rumble on in the background.
Brexit Opportunities Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg tried to dismiss Partygate, which is being examined by Scotland Yard, as trivial "fluff" when he addressed activists at the Conservatives’ spring conference in Blackpool.
But Mr Sunak today slapped down his colleague, saying: “Of course it damaged trust.
"It was right that the Prime Minister took responsibility for that in the way that he did - he made repeated statements in Parliament from the Despatch Box promising changes.
“Those changes have already started to take impact, and it's right that they have."
Speaking to BBC1's Sunday Morning programme, he added: "I think people were angry and had the right to be angry about what was happening and I think it damaged trust, but it's also right that that responsibility has been taken and steps are being taken to change things.”
The Chancellor swerved saying whether he would resign if he got a fixed penalty notice related to Partygate.
But he insisted: “I'm fully obviously co-operating with the police and it's right that we let them get on and do their investigation."
The PM faced calls to quit earlier this year over his attendance at Downing Street parties which are being investigated by the Metropolitan Police for alleged breaches of Covid regulations.
But addressing Tory grassroots faithful in Blackpool at the weekend, Mr Rees-Mogg said the Ukraine crisis showed Partygate was not a serious issue.
He added: "All of that is shown up for the disproportionate fluff of politics that it was rather than something of fundamental seriousness about the safety of the world and the established global order."
