A Tory MP has said he left Boris Johnson’s meeting with colleagues in parliament after apologizing to the Commons for the party’s “blasphemy and pantomime” of the prime minister.
Sir Roger Gale told Kay Burley of Sky News that he left because of the tone of the meeting behind closed doors – in contrast to Mr Johnson’s remorse in parliament earlier.
The meeting began with the ritual bumping of desks and saw Mr Johnson immediately call for party unity and support as he fought critics after his fine last week for violating blocking rules.
Political Center: Boris Johnson will face Starmer at PMQs later
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0:21 PM acted “in the heat of the moment”
Sir Roger, a longtime critic of the prime minister, said: “I stayed three minutes and left.
“I found the tone of the meeting from the very beginning very different from the tone in the House of Commons.
“I was expecting a serious meeting on serious issues.
“I didn’t expect a lot of noise and pantomime and I’m afraid I heard that and it seemed to me that my time was better to do other things.
“I did not like the tone of the meeting.
“I was told that the meeting became more serious later and certainly some colleagues asked a lot of asking questions.
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20:21 “He thinks the rules don’t apply to him”
“But what I heard didn’t interest me much.”
Asked if he thought the prime minister had not taken the issue seriously enough, Sir Roger said: “I think you could say that, yes.”
The MP, who previously said Mr Johnson’s position was untenable, also said it was not the time to replace him, given the war raging in Ukraine.
But he added: “My hope and expectations are that if things get significantly worse for the prime minister, he will do the right thing and resign.”
Tuesday night’s meeting also saw the prime minister slap the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, for criticizing his plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.
He said the clergyman had “misunderstood” the plan and should instead condemn Vladimir Putin, a senior government source told Sky News.
This was described on Wednesday as a “disgraceful insult”, if true, by the head of the news of the Church of England John Bingham.
Image: Police are investigating events in 2020 and 2021
Mr Johnson, meanwhile, is preparing to address the prime minister’s questions – this is likely to mean a second day of pressure in parliament over the party affair.
On Thursday, lawmakers will focus on the issue again as Labor proposes whether the prime minister has violated the parliamentary code of inquiry by a parliamentary committee – although Mr Johnson himself is scheduled to be absent from India.
This investigation will focus on whether the Prime Minister deliberately misled the Municipalities when he initially claimed that the rules for blocking the party had not been violated, but will require the support of Tory MPs to continue.
The prime minister received a fixed penalty for attending a rally on his birthday in June 2020, and Downing Street is ready to face additional fines related to other events being investigated by police.
Image: Mr. Johnson apologized after being fined
Speaking on Sky News, Business Secretary Paul Scully defended Mr Johnson’s behavior during events breaking the blockade.
Mr Scully said: “The Prime Minister is interpreting what he considers to be the law, the guidelines at the time.
“He made his decision in the middle of the moment, but he accepted that he had made a mistake, he accepted that he had made a mistake – and he made a full apology – 30 times yesterday in his statement.”
Deputy Labor leader Angela Raynor reiterated her anger at the prime minister and called on Tory MPs to act.
She told Sky News: “No one is above the law in this country and this prime minister must acknowledge this, his deputies must reinforce this – because if they do not, they are undermining our democracy.”
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