New Boris Johnson claims set to delay Partygate verdict as ex-PM ‘considers suing Cabinet Office’
Former PM accuses officials of ‘bizarre’ behaviour – but Partygate inquiry MPs will consider new evidence
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Your support makes all the difference.Boris Johnson’s referral to the police over further potential lockdown rule breaches is expected to delay the Partygate inquiry, as MPs ask the former PM to provide an explanation for events held at Chequers.
The former prime minister said to be considering suing the Cabinet Office for passing on extracts of his ministerial diaries over fresh potential Covid rule breaches, his allies have claimed.
Mr Johnson is accusing the government department of making “bizarre and unacceptable” claims after officials referred him to police over further possible lockdown violations.
Both the Metropolitan Police and Thames Valley Police are assessing the information, which came from official diary entries reviewed ahead of the Covid public inquiry.
Mr Johnson’s spokesman said it was “totally untrue” there had been further rule breaches – and said Cabinet Office officials decided to make “unfounded suggestions both to the police and to the privileges committee”.
A friend of the ex-PM told the Daily Mail that he was “seriously considering” legal action. “It appears the Cabinet Office has written to the privileges committee claiming that these events constitute lockdown breaches. That is not true and it is seriously defamatory.”
The decision to hand the extracts of Mr Johnson’s diary to police was not made by ministers or by cabinet secretary Simon Case, according to the newspaper. Justice secretary Alex Chalk told LBC there was “no ministerial intervention”.
But Mr Johnson’s office said that “many will conclude that this has all the hallmarks of yet another politically-motivated stitch up”.
The Cabinet Office also passed on details to MPs on the cross-party privileges committee – investigating Mr Johnson over whether he lied to parliament about Covid rule breaches at No 10 – last week.
The committee has contacted Mr Johnson to ask Mr Johnson to respond, causing a delay to its deliberations on whether he broke parliamentary rules and what sort of punishment he may merit.
A meeting set to take place on Tuesday was postponed because of the latest revelations, according to The Guardian. The group of MPs will consider the new evidence before coming to a verdict.
A spokesperson for the committee told The Independent: “The committee will take this evidence and Mr Johnson’s response into account when considering its final report. The committee is making progress with its inquiry expeditiously.”
According to The Times, which first reported the story, his ministerial diary revealed visits by friends to Chequers – the PM’s grace and favour residence in Buckinghamshire – during the pandemic.
Government sources told the newspaper that Mr Johnson first gave lawyers access to his diary, including details of all his meetings, to help his defence in the public inquiry into Covid.
But his lawyers – sanctioned by the government and paid for by the taxpayer – reportedly became concerned about details of visitors to Chequers during periods of restrictions between June 2020 and May 2021.
The lawyers flagged the visits to senior figures in the Cabinet Office, who then passed on material to police “in line with the obligations in the civil service code”.
Will Walden, Mr Johnson’s former director of communications, told Times Radio that the timing “couldn’t be worse”, ahead of the Partygate report by the privileges committee in the weeks ahead.
The Times reported that alleged breaches involved Mr Johnson’s family and friends, but a source close to the ex-PM denied this. Mr Walden said Mr Johnson’s “biggest problem” was “that this supposedly involved friends and family”.
It raises the prospect of scrutiny over the family and friends of Mr Johnson and his wife Carrie who may have been invited Chequers during the period in question.
The former PM’s sister Rachel Johnson told LBC on Tuesday that “as far as I’m aware, all the rules were followed whenever I went to Chequers”.
Figures known to be known to the couple include journalist Alex Wickham, former Johnson adviser Henry Newman and Ross Kempsell, a long-time spokesman said to be the ex-PM’s tennis partner and reportedly in line for a peerage in his resignation honours list.
Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, a Johnson loyalist, told GB News he had visited Chequers with his family during the pandemic, but that the meeting was “entirely within the rules”.
He said: “I was invited there with my children, entirely in accordance with the rules. Another senior government ministers was going to come but the prime minister cancelled him because you were only allowed to have one family present at the time.”
The fallout has piled further pressure on Rishi Sunak, who was fined over a gathering in Downing Street during the pandemic along with his former boss in June 2020.
Mr Sunak faces PMQs on Wednesday in which the subject of Mr Johnson’s past conduct is likely to be raised – along with the outstanding issue of whether he will launch an investigation into home secretary Suella Braverman’s handling of a speeding ticket.
The Liberal Democrats demanded Mr Sunak’s government bring an end to the taxpayer-funded legal defence provided to Mr Johnson over the Partygate probe. The government expects to pay an estimated £245,000 in legal fees to help the ex-PM defend himself in the privileges committee inquiry.
Lindsay Jackson, spokeswoman for the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, branded Mr Johnson “totally unfit for any form of public service” following the revelations and suggested he “quietly step back from public life”.
It is understood the former prime minister has been advised by lawyers all the events in question were lawful. He has had no contact from the police, still assessing the information.
A statement from Boris Johnson’s office said his lawyers have written to police to “explain in detail why the Cabinet Office is entirely wrong in its assertions”.
It read: “No contact was made with Mr Johnson before these incorrect allegations were made both to the police and to the privileges committee. This is both bizarre and unacceptable.”
“For whatever political purpose, it is plain that a last-ditch attempt is being made to lengthen the privileges committee investigation as it was coming to a conclusion and to undermine Mr Johnson.”
Pollster and Tory peer Lord Hayward told Sky News that the latest claims about Mr Johnson were unlikely to be a “stitch up … it’s just a series of events, which have to be looked at”.
The Cabinet Office said: “Information came to light during the process of preparing evidence for submission to the Covid inquiry. It was identified as part of the normal disclosure review of potentially relevant documents being undertaken by the legal team for inquiry witnesses.
They added: “In line with obligations in the civil service code, this material has been passed to the relevant authorities and it is now a matter for them.”
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