Boris Johnson faces two charges of covering up the party’s door, with opposition leaders accusing him of “behaving like a tin despot”.
Liberal Democrats say reports that Downing Street pressured Sue Gray to dilute her report reveal an attempt to cover up “lies and lawlessness.”
And Labor must force a Commons vote on a Prime Minister’s decision to rewrite the ministerial code, which Deputy Leader Angela Rayner says will “give the green light to corruption”.
Responding to a Sunday Times report on the Gray report, Liberal Democrat MP Wendy Chamberlain said: “This seems like another shameful attempt by Boris Johnson and the Conservatives to cover up their lies and the law.
“The Privileges Committee must immediately consider the alleged interference in the publication of the Sue Gray report. If the government actually modified the report, the British public should be told the truth.”
In its report, The Sunday Times reports: “Sources, both political and public, say three senior civil servants lobbied on Tuesday evening to make changes.
“She was urged not to publish the names of some of those who had attended the 12 parties against the law. Other changes were also requested in passages in the report that referred to Carrie Johnson, the Prime Minister’s wife.
Learn more about Downing Street parties
“Gray told them to ‘instruct’ him to make the changes, a move that would have required a senior minister to sign amendments, publicly indicating that the revisions had been made against his will.”
Follow the Daily podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker
The report says a senior Downing Street figure claimed that Downing Street chief of staff Steve Barclay was approached and, after talks with communications director Guto Harri, refused to issue the instruction, and Cabinet Office Minister Michael Ellis would only carry out the request if ordered by Mr Barclay.
“The result of the confrontation was that a number of names were removed, because by then the key pressure had been exerted,” the newspaper said. “Gray had contacted up to 30 people and told them he intended to name them. In the end, only 15 people were named in the final report.”
In response to the report, a spokesman for the Cabinet Office said: “We did not change the report in terms of substantive content. The key point we would say about anything. [that suggests] the previous copy was substantially edited; never shared with number 10 before “.
Image: Labor MP Angela Rayner has accused the Prime Minister of giving “green light to corruption”
Meanwhile, Labor has pledged to use a day of opposition to the Commons to debate ministerial rules after Johnson amended the ministerial code so ministers do not always have to resign to break it.
Ms.
“Many decent Conservative MPs are deeply uncomfortable with Johnson’s behavior and now have a chance to stop his sinister attempts to dilute the standards and integrity of our democracy.
Read more on Sky News: Drip letters of censure on PM as pressure grows after Sue Gray’s report Who’s on the line after the party report?
“Serious violations of the ministerial code must lead to resignation, whether deliberate deception by parliament, personal harassment, bribery or sexual assault.
“It simply came to our notice then.
“It is time to stop the rot that this prime minister has created at the heart of the government and restore the standards of public life.”