Boris Johnson branded 'dishonest' by Keir Starmer as Mark Harper submits letter of no confidence over partygate

Boris Johnson, his wife Carrie and Chancellor Rishi Sunak were last week issued with fines for breaking lockdown rules. Opposition politicians have called for the prime minister and chancellor to resign.

Sir Keir Starmer has branded Boris Johnson “dishonest” and “a joke” as a senior Tory MP said the prime minister is no longer “worthy” to be in his role following his partygate fine.

As Mr Johnson addressed MPs in the Commons for the first time since being issued the fine by the Metropolitan Police for attending his own birthday party in the cabinet room in Downing Street in June 2020, the Labour leader said “the public does not believe a word the prime minister says”, and that partygate “is not a glitch in the system”.

It came as former Tory chief whip Mark Harper told Mr Johnson he is “no longer worthy of the great office that he holds” and confirmed he has submitted a letter of no confidence in Mr Johnson after he was fined for breaking coronavirus laws.

“I regret to say that we have a prime minister who broke the laws that he told the country they had to follow, hasn’t been straightforward about it and is now going to ask the decent men and women on these benches to defend what I think is indefensible,” Mr Harper said.

“I’m very sorry to have to say this, but I no longer think he is worthy of the great office that he holds.”

Meanwhile Sir Keir – who was reprimanded by Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle for calling Mr Johnson “dishonest” – accused Mr Johnson of dragging “everyone else down with him”.

He also branded the PM’s apology as “half-hearted”.

Reiterating his call for the prime minister to resign, the Labour leader urged Conservative MPs to speak out against the actions of their leader and “bring decency, honesty and integrity back into our politics and stop the denigration of everything that this country stands for”.

A no-confidence vote in the prime minister is triggered if 1922 chair Sir Graham Brady receives 54 letters from Tory MPs calling for Mr Johnson to quit.

Addressing partygate for fewer than two minutes in his Commons statement, Mr Johnson offered a “wholehearted apology” and insisted he did not know he was breaking his own coronavirus rules.

Labour: PM’s apology ‘half-hearted’

Mr Johnson said he was speaking in “all humility” by acknowledging the fine the police issued over the gathering in Number 10.

“I paid the fine immediately and I offered the British people a full apology, and I take this opportunity on the first available sitting day to repeat my wholehearted apology to the House,” Mr Johnson said, as he faced shouts of “resign”.

“Let me also say, not by way of mitigation or excuse, but purely because it explains my previous words in this House, that it did not occur to me then or subsequently, that a gathering in the Cabinet Room just before a vital meeting on COVID strategy could amount to a breach of the rules.

“I repeat that was my mistake and I apologise for it unreservedly.

“I respect the outcome of the police investigation, which is still under way, and I can only say that I will respect their decision-making and always take the appropriate steps.”

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/boris-johnson-branded-dishonest-by-keir-starmer-as-mark-harper-submits-letter-of-no-confidence-in-pm-over-partygate-12593853