LAST UPDATE | 2 May 2021
BORIS JOHNSON SHOULD resign as British Prime Minister if he is found to have broken the ministerial code, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives has said as Johnson is investigated over renovations to his Downing Street flat.
Douglas Ross said today Johnson should “of course” quit if he is found to have breached the code as probes are under way into whether he properly declared any donations for the lavish refurbishments.
The British Prime Minister, however, remains the “ultimate arbitrator” of the code and gets the final say on whether he broke the rules, a situation Labour says allows him to be his own “judge and jury” as the opposition calls for reform.
Ross’s comment came amid signs a string of allegations may be damaging the Tories ahead of Thursday’s elections and as fresh claims over donations emerged.
Earlier, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab responded that he had “no idea” if a Conservative donor was asked to pay for Boris Johnson’s childcare as the Foreign Secretary dismissed the allegation as “tittle-tattle”.
But he declined to deny a report in the Sunday Times that a second invoice for lavish renovations of the Prime Minister’s Downing Street flat may have been settled by a Tory donor.
When asked about reports that a Tory donor was asked to cover the costs of childcare for the PM, Dominic Raab says "forgive me if I don't know the ins and outs of the Prime Minister's private life, and I wouldn't comment on them even if I did"#Ridge https://t.co/kxi8gwpVOy pic.twitter.com/FoQutOC8Lr
— Sophy Ridge on Sunday (@RidgeOnSunday) May 2, 2021
It came as two new polls suggested the Conservatives’ lead over Labour has been cut ahead of Thursday’s local elections in England and votes for the parliaments in Scotland and Wales.
The polls will raise concerns among Conservatives that recent “sleaze” allegations battering the Prime Minister are beginning to turn some voters off.
The Electoral Commission this week launched an investigation into whether any donations or loans to pay for the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat were properly declared.
And Johnson has been forced to deny saying he would rather see “bodies pile high” than impose a third coronavirus lockdown, on top of a lobbying row and allegations of cronyism.
But further allegations emerged over how renovations at his No 11 residence were initially paid for and that an MP has received a complaint from a Tory donor that they were asked to pay for a nanny for Johnson’s one-year-old son Wilfred.
The donor was alleged to have said: “I don’t mind paying for leaflets but I resent being asked to pay to literally wipe the Prime Minister’s baby’s bottom.”
A No 10 spokeswoman said: “The Prime Minister has covered the cost of all childcare.”
But she did not respond when asked if Johnson paid for the original bill himself or had reimbursed somebody else.
Asked about the allegation in the Sunday Times, Raab told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday:
“I have no idea, you don’t have conversations like that with the PM. I can’t comment on every little bit of gossip that’s in the newspapers.
“The last thing you asked me about I think is an example of tittle-tattle.”
"The Prime Minister's been very clear? I must have missed that"
— Sophy Ridge on Sunday (@RidgeOnSunday) May 2, 2021
Dominic Raab tells @SophyRidgeSky that the PM covered the costs of the Downing Street flat refurbishment himself and "followed all the relevant codes of conduct" and has been "very clear" on the matter #Ridge pic.twitter.com/h2TJQkEkEm
He declined to deny another allegation that a second invoice for the renovations reported to cost up to £200,000 was settled by a third party directly with the supplier.
“There are three reviews now I think into this and I think the right thing for me to do is not add political commentary that could otherwise prejudice those reviews but to respect the integrity of them,” Raab said.
So I’m not going to offer you I’m afraid any more commentary or if you like chatter on the various different reports and speculation that I see in the Sunday papers.
He also said he has “no idea” if Johnson personally called newspaper editors to criticise former aide Dominic Cummings but insisted the Prime Minister is “absolutely focused” on the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister appealed to voters in an article for The Mail on Sunday by saying he would “bring the hammer down hard on the gangs” and set up a “pet theft task force”.
He said the rollout of vaccines, one popular element of his handling of the pandemic, was helping to ease restrictions ahead of the expected relaxations on May 17 and June 21.
“This country is moving forwards cautiously but I hope irreversibly through the steps of the road map,” Mr Johnson wrote.
Week after week we are seeing how the vaccine rollout is helping to restore our freedoms – and with those freedoms I have absolutely no doubt that our economy will bounce back strongly.
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