Northern Eire secretary Brandon Lewis has argued that the prime minister has not misled Parliament over lockdown gatherings in No 10 and Whitehall.
This afternoon Johnson will face MPs for the primary time since his positive for breaching Covid legal guidelines.
Quizzed over the matter by Sky Information’ Breakfast programme he harassed: “He [Boris Johnson] hasn’t misled Parliament. He has outlined to Parliament what he believes to be the case and the reality on the level.
“He has equally, fairly rightly, apologised for what has occurred, accepted the place the police have taken and paid the positive.”
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Opposition MPs have accused Johnson of deceptive Parliament following his 1 December feedback that “all steerage was adopted utterly in No 10”.
Lewis claimed that “The purpose he [Johnson] made to Parliament, when he spoke to Parliament, he was talking what he believed to be the reality and what he outlined to be the reality.
“That’s completely proper and correct.
“As he stated final week, he completely accepts [that] the police have discovered that the principles had been damaged to a degree that they issued a positive… that’s the reason he has paid the positive and he has outlined that he accepts that.”
“Really, I feel, the prime minister has answered that … he’s already outlined to parliament that his view was with the office state of affairs that guidelines hadn’t been damaged.
“It’s not that he didn’t suppose they utilized to No 10… he accepts that the police have taken a view and he’s apologised and paid the positive. The prime minister took the view that he was in a office surroundings, the identical view that the Labour chief took when he had his pizza and beer.”
Senior Conservative Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the treasurer of the 1922 Committee, instructed BBC Radio 4’s Immediately programme that: “To pressure the prime minister out and have instability on the prime of presidency for no less than two months, as I do know as treasurer of the 1922 once we re-selected a successor to Theresa Might, I feel can be not within the nation’s pursuits”. His feedback echo the general public angle of many Conservative MPs since final week’s revelations, with these calling for the PM to step down within the minority.
Labour are reportedly contemplating two paths to push a proper investigation into Johnson’s remarks. One choice would contain a Commons’ movement to refer Johnson to a privilege committee probe. The second path can be to induce a Commons vote on a movement of censure. Nevertheless the stress of Conservative whips on Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to reject requires such a vote, plus the reluctance of Conservative MPs to oust Johnson, would imply the possible failure of each paths because it stands.
