Boris Johnson: Covid rule-breaking claims a load of nonsense
B
oris Johnson has branded recommendations he could have taken half in additional rule-breaking through the pandemic as “a load of absolute nonsense”.
The former Prime Minister emphatically denied gatherings at Chequers had breached Covid guidelines when requested as he touched down within the US.
He additionally insisted that the Cabinet Office determination at hand over entries from his official diary through the pandemic to police with out first querying them with him was “ridiculous”.
Speaking for the primary time concerning the newest claims, he instructed Sky News: “This whole thing is a load of nonsense from beginning to end.
“I think it’s ridiculous that elements in my diary should be cherry-picked and handed over to the police, to the privileges committee without even anybody having the basic common sense to ask me what these entries referred to.”
On Tuesday it emerged that Mr Johnson was referred to police after Cabinet Office legal professionals found proof of the brand new conferences, mentioned to incorporate former cupboard minister Jacob Rees-Mogg, the TV presenter Kate Garraway and his household and mates.
No10 has mentioned ministers weren’t concerned within the determination to cross to the police considerations over occasions in Chequers and Downing Street following a assessment of his official diary.
Pressed on whether or not the entries confirmed him “mingling with friends”, Mr Johnson insisted “that is absolutely not what these diary entries show”.
He mentioned: “I just think it’s totally nonsensical and bizarre that there are tens of thousands of entries in the prime minister’s diary. I’ve never seen these things before.
“I have looked through it. None of them constitute a breach of the rules during Covid, they weren’t during lockdown.
“They were during other periods of the restrictions. None of them constitute a breach of the rules. None of them involve socialising. It is total nonsense.”
His group beforehand mentioned makes an attempt have been being made to “stitch him up” and that any conferences have been lawful.
Mr Johnson has since sacked the Cabinet Office authorized group assigned to characterize him on the official Covid Inquiry and has appointed new legal professionals.
They have now reportedly offered his authorized defence to each the police and the Privileges Committee.
A spokesperson for the committee mentioned it had acquired new proof and had written to the previous Prime Minister for a response, including: “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.”
The separate Covid inquiry has additionally demanded to see the diary entries and WhatsApp messages referring to any Downing Street events.
Mr Johnson was catching a flight in Washington DC on Friday as a part of his journey to the US, the place he’s talking concerning the conflict in Ukraine, when he was approached by a Sky News journalist asking concerning the revelations.
“You want my honest view, I think this whole thing is completely nonsensical,” he mentioned.
Asked what the entries present, he replied: “They merely record events in my day.”
Mr Johnson was beforehand fined for attending a gathering in Downing Street to mark his birthday in June 2020 – one in all a sequence of political crises that finally led to the top of his premiership.
Labour chief Sir Keir Starmer mentioned earlier on Friday the general public was “fed up to the back teeth” with tales concerning the former prime minister.
“These are deeply personal things and increasing revelations about Boris Johnson, I think, just add to that sense of hurt and people are fed up with it,” he mentioned.
“I do suppose there are questions now about why have these allegations not come out earlier than, all these allegations.