You are in ‘last chance saloon’, Boris Johnson is warned

Boris Johnson has been warned by ministers he is on his last chance after Downing Street was forced to apologise to the Queen over new allegations of lockdown parties.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson is driven away from the House of Commons after attending Prime Minister Questions on Wednesday. Picture: Tolga Akmen / AFP

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been warned by cabinet ministers that he is in the “last chance saloon” after Downing Street was forced to apologise to the Queen over new allegations of lockdown parties.

Dozens of aides and officials were at two drunken parties in No 10 the night before the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral in April last year, when the Queen had to sit alone at the service to comply with Covid restrictions.

The Times has been told that Sue Gray, a senior civil servant who is overseeing an investigation into the parties, felt “completely blindsided” by the revelations. She is concerned that Downing Street staff are deliberately concealing information about parties held at No 10.

Cabinet ministers who publicly backed Mr Johnson after his apology on Wednesday said that it was increasingly difficult to justify their support for the prime minister or to defend him. “This is the last chance saloon. More revelations of parties, and a pummelling at the local elections, and the party will rise up,” said one.

“If Boris is going to survive, like an alcoholic he has to admit that he has a problem and go into serious therapy. It’s beyond my comprehension how stupid they can be.”

Another cabinet minister said that Mr Johnson must take the “opportunity” to clear out his team and reset his government. “He needs a complete clear-out,” the minister said. “He’s being served very poorly.” Three cabinet ministers said that Dan Rosenfield, his chief of staff, needed to go.

Lord Hague of Richmond, the former foreign secretary and Conservative Party leader, said that Mr Johnson’s future was “in the balance”. He told Times Radio: “Some MPs have said they’re writing in for a vote of no confidence. He has to make sure he puts this right in the next few weeks.”

Boris Johnson reacts as Labour leader Keir Starmer (unseen) speaks in the Commons on Wednesday. Picture: UK Parliament / AFP

In other developments:

THE head of the government unit responsible for drawing up Covid restrictions apologised after staff threw a “boozy” leaving party for her during the Christmas lockdown.

MR Johnson was facing questions on compliance with the rules after Downing Street admitted he had “commuted” between Downing Street and Chequers at the start of the first lockdown.

A DOZEN Tory MPs have gone public with criticism of the prime minister, with one running a poll on Facebook asking their supporters whether Johnson had “done wrong and should go”.

A YOUGOV poll for The Times found that seven in ten voters believe Mr Johnson has not been honest about his account of attending a lockdown-breaking party in Downing Street.

STAFF at Downing Street held regular “wine-time Fridays” during the pandemic, where they had a drink at the end of a working week.

No 10 apologised to Buckingham Palace on Friday after details of the two lockdown leaving parties emerged. Aides and officials are said to have been excessively drunk at the events, which included a trip to a local supermarket by an official with a suitcase to stock up on alcohol.

The day after the events on April 16 the Queen attended her husband’s funeral wearing a face mask and socially distanced from her family at Windsor Castle, in line with the coronavirus restrictions. A spokesman for the Prime Minister said: “It is deeply regrettable that this took place at a time of national mourning and No 10 has apologised to the Palace.”

James Slack, Mr Johnson’s former director of communications, apologised for the “anger and hurt” that one of the events – a leaving party held for him – had caused. Slack, who is now deputy editor of The Sun, said: “This event should not have happened at the time that it did.”

Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, said on Friday: “We are witnessing the broken spectacle of a prime minister mired in deceit and deception, unable to lead.”

Michael Gove, the Levelling-Up Secretary, suggested that changes would need to be made in Downing Street and that disciplinary action would be required after the publication of Ms Gray’s report.

He told ITV News: “We need to have a complete, full, candid account of everything that went on – lay out all those facts, then, if there is a specific need for disciplinary action or for responsibility to be taken, let’s do that, let’s do it quickly, but let’s also do it with all the facts in front of us.”

By contrast Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, who is regarded as a potential leader of the Conservative Party, suggested that the row had run its course. “He has apologised. I think we now need to move on and talk about how we’re going to sort out issues,” she said.

Ms Gray is understood to be struggling with the volume of new revelations. She is now investigating ten separate events and as a result her report is likely to be delayed until the week after next.

The YouGov polling found that 70 per cent of voters did not believe Mr Johnson’s account to the Commons, including more than half those who voted Conservative in the 2019 election. Six per cent of voters thought that Mr Johnson had been honest in his overall handling of the wider controversy.

With Matt Chorley, Oliver Wright and Henry Zeffman.

The Times