British Prime Minister “nonsense” lies about blockade party, says By Reuters

By Guy Faulconbridge and Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) – Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been accused of lying to parliament about denouncing a blockade party at his official headquarters, his MP said on Tuesday.

Johnson faces the worst crisis of his tenure after revelations about rallies at the COVID-19 blockade, some of whom the British were unable to say goodbye to dying relatives in person and when the queen was mourning her husband.

Driven to the top job of “carrying out Brexit,” Johnson won a majority in his party for more than 30 years, but now his opponents, as well as some of his lawmakers, must call for his resignation.

Asked if he had lied about one of the parties on Downing Street that could be proven convicted, Prime Minister Dominic Raab said: “Look, the suggestion that he lied is nonsense.

“He made it very clear to the House of Commons that, taking questions about this, he thought it was a work event,” he told Times Radio. However, Raab admitted in later talks that, in principle, if a prime minister deliberately lied to parliament, it was to resign.

Johnson last week apologized to parliament for attending a “bring your alcohol” reunion on May 20, 2020 at Downing Street Garden. He said he thought it was a work event and attended for 25 minutes to thank the staff.

“I implicitly thought it was a work event, but in retrospect, I should have sent it all inside,” Johnson told parliament Jan. 12.

But Dominic Cummings, Britain’s architect for leaving the European Union and a former chief adviser who left the government on harsh terms in November 2020, said Johnson had agreed to move the drinks party forward.

‘BREAKING THE RULE’

Cummings said he and at least one other adviser told Private Secretary-General Martin Reynolds (PPS) that the official who invited people to the party should not move forward.

The warning was emailed, according to Cummings.

“I told the PPS that the invitation broke the rules,” he said. “The idea that he would sue two of the top people in the PPS building, say he would check with the prime minister, is not credible.”

Raab said he would not speculate on the hypothetical and repeatedly declined to say how the two versions of events could be reconciled.

“It is very correct to say that the two issues cannot be reconciled, and the Prime Minister has made it very clear that what he has suggested overnight is not true,” he said.

Johnson’s apology came later ITV (LON 🙂 News Reynolds posted an electronic invitation to the event. Cummings said after recommending the cancellation of the invitation, Reynolds checked with Johnson to see if he should move forward.

“The Prime Minister accepted that it was necessary,” Cummings said in his blog. “Only the events of May 20, regardless of the chain of other events, mean that the Prime Minister lied to the parties about the parliament,” he wrote.

Senior official Sue Gray is investigating a dozen allegations of an offense by Johnson, her team and Downing Street 10 officials. The chief minister said people had to wait until the end of their consultation.

However, the scandals have lowered his and the Conservative Party’s ratings.

“It’s clear that there was a culture within No. 10 where the rules weren’t technically broken, there was the spirit of the rules, and that’s totally unacceptable,” young health minister Maria Caulfield said on her website.