Starmer brands Johnson a ‘man without shame’

During tense debates in parliament, MPs debated whether Boris Johnson should be investigated for lying about the Partygate scandal.

Boris Johnson addressed MPs for the first time since receiving a fixed-penalty notice for attending a birthday party in June 2020, but said he had not realised the gathering was against Covid rules.

In a scathing response, Corbyn accused May of being dishonest and not respecting the British people’s sacrifice.

After hearing Johnson’s apology, senior Tory MP Mark Harper said, “I no longer think he is worthy of the great office that he holds.”

On Thursday, MPs will vote on a Labour motion to investigate whether Johnson misled parliament about a string of lockdown-busting parties in Downing Street.

Starmer urged Conservative MPs to remove Johnson and “restore decency, honesty, and integrity to our politics”.

Johnson said he had inadvertently broken the rules. “I had no idea that a gathering in the cabinet room just before a crucial meeting on Covid strategy could be a rule violation. “I made a mistake and I sincerely apologise,” he said.

According to Johnson, the row had increased his sense of obligation to deliver on the British people’s priorities and respond to Putin’s barbaric assault on Ukraine in the best traditions of our country.

He said he talked about the Ukraine conflict with Presidents Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday.

But Starmer called Johnson’s apology “mealy mouthed” and “dishonest”. “The prime minister knows what he is,” Starmer said when asked to withdraw the unparliamentary language.

I regret to say that we have a PM who broke the laws he told the country to follow, hasn’t been straight about it, and now asks the decent men and women on these benches to defend what I think is indefensible,” Harper continued.

Harper later tweeted that he had sent a letter of no confidence in Johnson to the 1922 Committee chair, Sir Graham Brady.

In an interview with BBC Newsnight on Tuesday night, Conservative MP Craig Whittaker urged the prime minister to refer himself to the privileges committee to avoid pushing the Tories “to the brink.”

Whittaker said he has not written to the 1922 Committee requesting a vote of no confidence in the PM.

Other Tory MPs with reservations about Johnson said neither the apology nor the move for a vote on a privileges committee investigation had changed their minds.

They are in a “waiting mode”, hoping for more fines and for Sue Gray’s long-awaited report. As a result, the Tory backbencher said he was considering voting for the privileges committee investigation but that doing so would result in him losing the whip and possibly his seat at the next election.

“Anger doesn’t even touch the sides of how I feel about this pathetic excuse for a man,” Starmer said of Johnson, citing John Robinson’s letter to the Guardian last week.

He told a hushed House of Commons: “If the prime minister had any respect for John and the millions like him, he’d resign. He won’t. He does not respect John. He doesn’t value the British people’s sacrifice. He has no shame.”

Labour sources said Starmer had returned from Easter with his family enraged at Cameron’s attempts to avoid Partygate.

Johnson will be in India on a trade visit when the vote takes place on Thursday, hoping to impress his colleagues.

The Cabinet Office minister Jacob Rees-Mogg questioned the privilege committee’s ability to investigate Johnson’s conduct.

“I’d bear in mind that it’s a distinguished body of the House of Commons but chaired by a Labour politician,” he said. The committee is always led by an opponent.

Ministers who “knowingly mislead parliament” must resign, according to the ministerial code.

Prime Minister David Cameron assured MPs in December that “all guidance was followed” during the pandemic, a claim contradicted by the Met’s decision to issue a fixed-penalty notice.

It’s not clear what happened, but Johnson claims he didn’t intentionally mislead MPs. Tory MP Peter Bone asked: “Did you deliberately mislead the house at dispatch?” “No,” Johnson said.

But he asked Johnson for assurances that something similar would not happen again.

The prime minister and senior government officials may face more sanctions as the Met investigates lockdown gatherings.

The government has committed to publishing the full report by Gray, a senior civil servant.

Also Read

Macron supporters warn victory not guaranteed

Emmanuel Macron's friends have warned against complacency in the French presidential election,...