A minister today warned that there is a ‘high bar’ to get rid of a PM as the Partygate reckoning closes in for Boris Johnson.
Business minister Paul Scully dodged as he was grilled on whether Mr Johnson will have to quit if he is fined by the police.
But he became the latest to suggest that the premier might be able to hang on, stressing the importance of ‘context’.
Foreign Office minister James Cleverly said yesterday that the last thing the country needs with the Ukraine standoff and Covid ongoing was a ‘vacuum at the centre of Government’.
However, behind the scenes other senior figures are more sceptical about whether Mr Johnson can survive if police find he broke lockdown laws.
Two Cabinet ministers are poised to withdraw support if he receives a fixed penalty notice (FPN), according to The Times – although there are claims he would try to appeal the punishment.
In a round of interviews this morning, Mr Scully said he wants to ‘see the Sue Gray report, see what the police find and then we can work through’.
‘I’m going to wait until I see context before I really make any more judgment on it,’ he said.
But he insisted there should be a ‘real high bar to get rid of any prime minister’.
Business minister Paul Scully dodged as he was grilled today on whether Mr Johnson will have to quit if he is fined by the police
Mr Johnson (pictured in Munich at the weekend) has refused to engage with questions about Partygate saying he ‘can’t comment about a process that is under way’
Police have been considering whether to add this Downing Street quiz night from December 2020 to the Partygate incidents they are investigating
Mr Johnson stonewalled for 10 minutes on Partygate in an awkward interview over the weekend, refusing to say whether he will quit if police fine him.
The PM squirmed as he was repeatedly grilled by the BBC’s Sophie Raworth, insisting he ‘can’t comment about a process that is under way’.
Despite there being no apparent legal barrier to speaking on the issue, Mr Johnson said: ‘There is simply not a bean I can tell you about that.’
Mr Johnson handed a legal questionnaire to police on Friday regarding claims that lockdown-busting parties were held in Downing Street.
He is thought to be arguing that he believed all the functions he attended were essential for work, but No10 has insisted the document will not be made public.
The government has also urged police not to publish hundreds of pictures handed to an official civil service probe into the scandal – allegedly including one of the premier drinking beer.
However, Mr Johnson has committed to revealing if he gets a fixed penalty notice (FPN).
Scotland Yard is investigating 12 events allegedly attended by Government figures during lockdowns, including as many as six involving the PM personally.
Officers involved with Operation Hillman, which is examining whether Covid restrictions were broken in Downing Street and across Whitehall, sent formal questionnaires to approximately 50 people as they look into the details of alleged Covid rule-breaking.
Sources close to two Cabinet ministers told The Times that they might withdraw support for Mr Johnson if he is fined.
‘If he gets an FPN he’ll have to go. How can you have a prime minister who has been found guilty of breaking the law?’ one said.
In an interview with BBC One’s Sunday Morning Programme recorded yesterday at the Munich security conference, Mr Johnson was asked if he could understand many people’s doubts about his explanations of gatherings held in No10.
He repeatedly said there was ‘nothing’ he could offer on the matter until the police inquiry was completed.
Mr Johnson said: ‘Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to give you full and detailed answers on all this stuff. I genuinely can’t because we’ve got a process under way – there is not a jot I can say until it is done.’
Told the public found some of his excuses for attending Downing Street gatherings ‘implausible’, particularly the ‘bring your own booze’ event in May 2020, the Prime Minister replied: ‘You’re just going to have to wait until the process is complete – there is literally not a bean I can tell you about that, as much as I would like to.’
Pressed further, he added: ‘I understand your curiosity, I totally accept it, but you’re just going to have to accept for the time being – and you won’t have long, I hope – but for the time being you’re going to have to contain your interest.
‘I will be saying a lot more about it in due course.’
In an interview with BBC One’s Sunday Morning show recorded at the Munich security conference over the weekend, Mr Johnson repeatedly said there was ‘nothing’ he could offer until the police inquiry is completed
Speaking to Sky on Trevor Philips on Sunday, Mr Cleverly said he wanted to Mr Johnson to stay in post.
‘I don’t think what the country needs at the moment is a vacuum at the centre of Government when we are dealing with our recovery from Covid, the accumulation of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border, making sure that the the health service is able to deal with the sad, the unfortunate but nevertheless obvious, backlog that’s been created by Covid,’ he said.
‘That’s what the country needs. That’s what I believe the Prime Minister should be doing.’
