Partygate: Boris Johnson ally Conor Burns says ‘there’s no question of PM going’

Prime Minister Boris Johnson with Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak (PA Wire)

One of Boris Johnson’s closest allies stressed on Friday that “there is no question of the Prime Minister going” after the partygate furore erupted again.

Northern Ireland minister Conor Burns insisted Mr Johnson had not deliberately misled Parliament when he denied that Covid rules were broken with parties in Downing Street.

He rejected accusations that the Prime Minister had “lied” over the issue.

However, Mr Johnson suffered another blow on Thursday after an embarrassing U-turn by the Government which saw it ditch an attempt to delay a vote on whether to refer Mr Johnson to the Privileges Committee to probe claims he misled Parliament over partygate.

Leading Brexiteer Steve Baker also became the latest MP to call for Mr Johnson to quit and Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Treasurer of the 1922 Committee of Backbench Tory MPs, said “the dial has shifted” as the Prime Minister seeks to stay in office.

However, Mr Burns told Sky News: “There is no question of the Prime Minister going.”

He said Mr Johnson, who is on the second-day of a trip to India, was confident that he would be cleared once the full facts were made public.

“He remains confident that when people can see the full context of what happened it will be clear that he was straightforward, he said to the House in good faith that he believed the rules were followed,” he added.

“He is looking forward to this ending. He is looking forward to drawing this to a conclusion, for it to be examined fully so that we can move on to the things people are genuinely concerned about.”

The U-turn over the Privileges Committee referral came after the Whips appeared to have misread the scale of revolt among Tory MPs over the delay attempt, with reports that even a number of ministers and parliamentary private secretaries were refusing to back it.

The latest Westminster furore erupted after Mr Johnson was fined £50 by Scotland Yard for attending a surprise birthday party for him in No10 on June 19, 2020.

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Mr Burns has previously claimed that he was “ambushed with a cake” at the gathering.

The Metropolitan Police is also believed to be investigating up to five other events which Mr Johnson attended while the country was in lockdown or under other Covid restrictions.

MPs nodded through an Opposition motion on Thursday on the Privileges Committee referral which stated that the Prime Minister had issued statements that “appear to amount to misleading the House” when giving past assurances that Downing Street had complied with coronavirus laws amid reports of lockdown parties.

The Prime Minister, speaking in India before the motion passed but after the No 10 amendment U-turn, said there needed to be a way of “drawing a line” under the partygate saga as he looked to turn attention onto other matters.

“What I don’t want is for this thing to just go on and on and on,” he told Channel 4 News.

“We’ve had one enquiry, we’ve had a police enquiry, I think there’s got to be a way of drawing a line under it.

“But if colleagues want to have more scrutiny of this, if that’s what the Opposition want, then that’s fine, let’s do that.”

Mr Johnson said he would be able to give a “fuller account” of his actions once the police investigation is over and the report by senior civil servant Sue Gray into the matter is published.

However, amid the disquiet among Tory MPs, Labour’s Deputy Leader Angela Rayner tweeted: “Boris Johnson is on borrowed time.”