Boris Johnson – live: Senior Tory says ex-PM ‘finished’ after humiliating Partygate hearing

Senior Tory MP Caroline Nokes said Boris Johnson’s comeback hopes were “finished” after the Partygate inquiry committee suggested he had failed to correctly interpret his own Covid guidance or seek proper assurances.

Asked if Mr Johnson is finished if he is punished by the committee, Ms Nokes told ITV’s Peston: “I think that Boris Johnson is finished anyway. I think there was a very clear message from his own ministers back in the summer that they didn’t want him to carry on.”

“He didn’t choose to stand against Rishi Sunak back in the autumn when we had the second leadership challenge. As far as I’m concerned, Boris Johnson is not coming back as prime minister.”

Former cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg said it was “perfectly reasonable” for Boris Johnson to think No 10 leaving dos were in the remit of Covid regulations.

Speaking to TalkTV about Mr Johnson’s appearance before the Privileges Committee, Mr Rees-Mogg said: “The rule on what you could do in a workplace were essentially a ‘best efforts’ rule in terms of social distancing. If you had to be in an office, you had to be in an office and you had to do your best to maintain social distancing.

“But you were allowed to carry on with the ordinary business of an office, and therefore it was perfectly reasonable of the prime minister to think that the farewell events that were held were the ordinary business of the office.”

He added: “ It is quite clear from yesterday that the prime minister spoke in good faith.

More from Mr Rees-Mogg below:

The vast majority of Britons think Boris Johnson is dishonest, a new poll has found after the former prime minister insisted he did not lie to MPs over Partygate during a heated inquiry hearing.

The YouGov poll found that 72 per cent of Britons think Mr Johnson is dishonest, while 51 per cent of Conservative voters and 59 per cent of pro-Brexit voters polled believe the same.

It comes after the former prime minister faced a tense showdown at the Commons Privileges Committee on Wednesday over whether he lied to MPs with his denials of lockdown-busting parties held in Downing Street.

Boris Johnson yesterday tried to drag Rishi Sunak into the Privileges Committee investigation over Partygate.

Mr Johnson said his former chancellor did not understand why he got a fixed penalty notice for attending a lockdown-breaching event.

Asked about the remark, Mr Sunak said: “Well I can’t obviously comment on an ongoing parliamentary process, I’ll let that play out, and with regard to myself, I addressed that at the time, apologised unreservedly for what happened.”

A by-election in Boris Johnson’s seat could “cause serious problems” for the Conservative Party, according to a Tory pollster.

Should the Privileges Committee find the former prime minister to have been in contempt of Parliament after offering assurances that Covid rules were followed during partygate, it could call for a suspension and MPs could trigger a by-election if the suspension is for 10 days or more.

Tory peer Lord Hayward, asked on Sky News what a potential by-election in Uxbridge and South Ruislip could mean for the Conservatives, said: “It would cause serious problems.

“The party doesn’t want a by-election. My guess is that if there were a by-election, certainly on current polls we would lose the constituency and therefore it’s something that is there but we can’t prejudge what the committee will decide.”

Asked about Mr Johnson’s popularity with Tory members, Lord Hayward replied: “I think his support is diminishing and his impact on the party is diminishing the longer that Rishi Sunak is Prime Minister.”

Arch-loyalist Jacob Rees-Mogg claimed Boris Johnson had “won” public support with his defences – despite them being met with exasperation by multiple members of the cross-party panel of MPs grilling him.

The Tory MP told Channel 4 News: “Boris Johnson today has won in the court of public opinion.”

He added: “I think that if Boris Johnson went to a by-election he would win it comfortably. Because I think he’s winning in the court of public opinion, who see this as a kangaroo court.”

Offering his verdict on Thursday’s hearing, Will Walden, Mr Johnson’s former communication chief, told LBC: “He’ll be wanting to tell himself it’s all alright – but I don’t think it is, really.

“It was a bit of mess. He managed to last to the end of the first proper question before he got angry. At times he was churlish, frustrated, disbelieving, stroppy, shameless.”

Mr Walden added: “A man with an elastic relationship with the truth, swearing on a bible to tell the truth about whether in the past he told the truth or not – I mean you literally couldn’t make it up!”

Boris Johnson has been urged to correct his Partygate inquiry testimony after he was found to have claimed a No 10 party marked the exit of the top civil servant who did not resign until a month later.

The former Tory prime minister claimed the notorious “bring your own booze” garden party on 20 May 2020 had been aimed at motivating staff because cabinet secretary Mark Sedwill had quit.

But Mr Sedwill did not resign until 29 June 2020 – more than a month later – revealing he would step down from his top Downing Street role in September.

Adam Forrest looks at the former prime minister’s evidence:

Liam Gallagher was among those chastising Boris Johnson as the former prime minister addressed the Privileges Committee over the Partygate scandal yesterday.

“Boris Johnson getting his fat ass handed to him on a plate who’s says the nowt on TV these days marvellous [sic],” the former Oasis frontman tweeted during the broadcasted hearing.

Gallagher has made a number of political statements in the past, last year dedicating his NME award for Music Moment of the Year to NHS workers and “all the people that give a s*** in general”.

Tom Murray reports.

Britain’s most senior civil servant has said he did not give Boris Johnson any assurances that Covid rules were followed at all times in No 10 during lockdown.

Cabinet secretary Simon Case said he offered no assurances in written evidence given to the cross-party privileges committee due to grill Mr Johnson later on whether he misled MPs over the Partygate scandal.

It has also emerged that Mr Johnson was warned by his principle private secretary Martyn Reynolds against claiming that all Covid guidance had been followed – but went ahead and made a denial in the Commons.

Matt Mathers and Adam Forrest have more: