Boris Johnson has received a scathing public rebuke from his own ethics adviser for exposing the ministerial standards system to “ridicule” over the Partygate scandal amid growing pressure from Conservative MPs for a vote on its future as a leader.
Christopher Geidt said there were “legitimate” questions about whether Johnson had broken the ministerial code of conduct and made a veiled threat to resign if the prime minister said there was no case to answer.
Labor said the dispute showed Mr Johnson’s “few days” after he “tried to manipulate the rules and evade scrutiny”.
But the prime minister insisted he had not broken the code and blamed it on a “communication failure” so Lord Geidt said it was his repeated failure to heed his advice.
The dispute came when Mr Johnson called on potential rebels in the Conservatives’ back benches in a desperate attempt to bolster his position ahead of a censorship vote in his leadership that many Conservative MPs expect to be convened when Parliament come back next week.
Downing Street declined to confirm reports that the Prime Minister is planning a relaunch in the last weeks of the parliamentary year, with a joint speech with Chancellor Rishi Sunak on reforms to insurance rules to release billions of pounds for infrastructure investments. But a source did not deny that he said he was hesitating in the back seat, saying: “Obviously, he talks to parliamentarians all the time.”
Former Conservative leader William Hague said the prime minister was in “real trouble” and that the party was “moving faster” towards a leadership vote, which will be triggered if 1922 committee chairman Sir Graham Brady receives 54 letters from deputies. .
A close ally of Mr. Johnson, former cabinet minister Andrea Leadsom, voiced concern over “unacceptable leadership failures that cannot be tolerated.”
And a 17th Conservative MP, John Stevenson of Carlisle, revealed that he had sent a letter of censure to the Prime Minister, declaring himself “deeply disappointed” by Johnson’s response to the revelations of the blockade parties at number 10.
The number of MPs who have publicly called for Mr Johnson’s departure has risen to 28, and others have privately argued for his removal.
Meanwhile, critics of Mr. Johnson told The Independent that he was concerned that the Prime Minister would narrowly win a vote of confidence if he got the support of more than half of his MPs and then trigger potentially disastrous early general elections to try to reaffirm the control over their conflicting party.
“The parliamentary party is divided with a third against, he a loyal third and a third at stake,” said one. “If she gets less than 63 per cent that Theresa May achieved in 2018, she will have real problems, but I have no doubt she will try to hold on.
“I think he could try to make an election because it would be the only way he could reaffirm his authority.
“He has a lot of confidence in himself and he thinks he has the country by his side, but I think the country would say ‘No, thank you’ and throw the Red Wall MPs under the bus.”
Ms May’s former chief of staff, Gavin Barwell, said: I suspect it would be the worst result for the Conservative Party. “
And a Johnson supporter, Business Minister George Freeman, admitted that the Prime Minister was “in the middle” and said he did not know if he would survive a vote of confidence.
In a letter to voters, Ms. Leadsom, who worked closely with Johnson in her failed attempt to save disgraced MP Owen Paterson last year, said the Gray report had exposed “unacceptable shortcomings in leadership that are not they can tolerate and are the responsibility of the Prime Minister. ” ”.
Although he did not call for the resignation of Mr. Johnson, Mrs. Leadsom said each Conservative “must now decide individually what is the right course of action that will restore confidence in our government.”
His speech was considered as significant as an indication of the discontent that extended beyond the critics of Mr. One Nation. Johnson and MPs in marginal seats worried about their impact on their slim majorities.
One MP told The Independent that he knew of several MPs who had written to Sir Graham without publicly revealing it, adding: “Now we need to be close to 54. I think Sir Graham is just waiting for the Jubilee weekend to announce it “.
Brady himself kept his lips tight and told reporters that “it wasn’t my usual pastime” to add letters.
Lord Hague said last week’s Gray report on the blockade breach parties at No. 10 had turned on the tactile paper on a “slow fuse blast”.
Mr Johnson was wrong to think he was safe just because the report did not cause an immediate flood of letters, “he said.
“Actually, this is not the mood of the Conservative Party, which is very, very concerned about the content of this report,” Hague told Times Radio.
“I think they are moving, either next week or towards the end of June, they are moving towards a vote. It seems so.”
Labor Deputy Leader Angela Rayner said Mr Johnson “reduced himself to desperately calling his rebellious MPs by offering balls in a doomed attempt to save his own skin.”
And he said Lord Geidt’s rebuke was “the last sign of the rampant scandal that engulfed Downing Street”.
In a preface to his late annual report on ministerial conduct, the ethics counselor said Mr Johnson had ignored the advice repeatedly conveyed in issue 10 that he should make a public statement about whether he had violated the code of conduct. ministerial.
Failure to do so could put him in the position of having to advise the Prime Minister to initiate an investigation into himself and then resign when Johnson refuses to do so, which would put the code “in a ridiculous place. said Lord Geidt.
But Johnson replied that Lord Geidt had not raised the issue directly with him and blamed the situation on a “failed communication between our offices”.
The prime minister insisted that he had complied with the requirements of the code by correcting statements in parliament which were “made in good faith” but which did not turn out to be true. And he said he did not believe the £ 50 fixed penalty notice he received from police amounted to a breach of the code.
Mrs Rayner said: “The Prime Minister’s second ethics adviser has now threatened to resign, at the latest sign of the rampant Downing Street scandal.
“No matter how hard he tries to manipulate the rules and evade scrutiny, the prime minister has been discovered and his days are numbered.”
And the main Democrat, Wendy Chamberlain, said: “This scathing criticism shows that even Boris Johnson’s own ethics adviser no longer trusts him to tell the truth. He is not fit to hold public office.”