BORIS JOHNSON may have to resign if he is found to have lied to Parliament over the “partygate” scandal, a minister suggested today.
Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab refused to be drawn into a “hypothetical” situation of the Prime Minister finding himself in such a position. However, he said that under the ministerial code, if a minister lies to the Commons and refuses to correct the untruth, then it would “normally be a resigning matter”.
Mr Raab’s comments came after the bombshell accusation by Mr Johnson’s former top adviser, Dominic Cummings, that the Prime Minister lied to the Commons over the “bring-your-own-booze” gathering on May 20, 2020, in the garden of No10 when the UK was in lockdown. Mr Cummings, who himself has been the subject of Covid regulation-busting accusations over his trip to Barnard Castle, claimed that he and other eyewitnesses were willing to swear under oath that Mr Johnson agreed the party should go ahead despite warnings from at least two people that it should not.
He alleged that he and another senior official warned the Prime Minister’s principal private secretary, Martin Reynolds, that his “BYOB” invitation to around 100 staff was against coronavirus rules. “I said to the PM something like: Martin’s invited the building to a drinks party, this is what I’m talking about, you’ve got to grip this madhouse. The PM waved it aside,” the ex-adviser, who left No10 in November 2020, said on his blog.
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