Theresa May has slammed Boris Johnson for allowing parties in Downing Street during lockdown as another Tory MP accused the prime minister of taking him for a “fool”, following the publication of the Sue Gray report.
Speaking in the Commons on Monday, May said the public had the right to expect Jonson to have “read the rules”, “understand the meaning” of the rules and “set an example in following those rules”.
The truncated version of Gray’s full report, published today, revealed the Metropolitan Police is investigating gatherings that Johnson himself attended.
Johnson told MPs he was “sorry” for “the things we simply didn’t get right”. But resisting demands he resign, he said he would instead “fix” problems that led to the rule breaking. The prime minister said his backbenchers should wait until the Metropolitan Police had completed its own inquiry.
May, Johnson’s predecessor, was sharply critical of her successor in No.10. “What the Gray report does show is that No.10 Downing Street was not observing the regulations they had imposed on members of the public,” she said.
“So either my right honourable friend had not read the rules or didn’t understand what they meant and others around him, or they didn’t think the rules applied to No. 10. Which was it?”
Johnson told May “that is not what the Gray report says”, and again said MPs should wait for the results of the Met investigation.
As the PM faced the Commons, Aaron Bell, the Conservative MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme, said he had followed Covid rules as parties took place in No.10.
“Does the prime minister think I’m a fool?” he told Johnson.
Former Tory cabinet minister and chief whip Andrew Mitchell also said Johnson no longer had his support.
“I am deeply concerned by these events and very concerned indeed by some of the things he has said from that despatch box and has said to the British public and our constituents,” he said.
“When he kindly invited me to see him 10 days ago, I told him that I thought he should think very carefully about what was now in the best interests of our country and of the Conservative Party, and I have to tell him he no longer enjoys my support.”
Many Tory MPs have already called for Johnson to resign. It takes 54 Conservatives to formally demand a leadership contest for a no confidence vote to be held.