Evidence that Boris Johnson misled parliament ‘clear cut’, says former sleaze watchdog

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Evidence of Boris Johnson lying to parliament over parties at Downing Street is “clear cut” and Conservative MPs do not have to wait for an official report to demand his resignation, a former Whitehall sleaze watchdog has said.

The ex-chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, Sir Alistair Graham, said it was clear that Mr Johnson breached the ministerial code by misleading parliament, which would be a resigning matter.

While Whitehall mandarin Sue Gray was unlikely to pass judgement on whether the PM breached the code in her report into the party scandal, expected next week, Sir Alistair said it was a “simple issue” for MPs to reach their own conclusions on the evidence already available.

Sir Alistair said that fresh allegations of Tory rebels facing “blackmail” from ministers and whips to stop them from submitting letters of no confidence in Johnson could be a matter for police and would be “disastrous” for the PM if proved.

The former CPSL chief told Sky News: “The key issue for me is it looks like the prime minister – the evidence is fairly clear – misled parliament about attending parties and parties taking place.

“That would be, if he knowingly misled parliament, a breach of the ministerial code, which would be a resignation matter.

“If Conservative MPs care about standards in our democratic system, that should be the simple issue.”

There are expectations at Westminster that the publication of the Gray report will provoke a fresh wave of confidence letters which could take the total over the threshold of 54 needed to force a vote.

But Sir Alistair said: “They are waiting for the Sue Gray report, but I doubt if Sue Gray’s going to deal with this issue of a breach of a ministerial code. I think that’s beyond her pay grade.

“For me, the evidence is already clear cut that he did breach the ministerial code and therefore he should face the consequences of that.

He added: “What appals people I think, is the scale of the breach of the regulations that seem to have taken place in Downing Street, and the lack of firm management, the lack of proper leadership.

“I think does throw serious questions about whether we’ve got a prime minister and a government that is truly in charge or has allowed a culture to develop that people don’t need to consider what rules are in place and whether they should be kept to.”