Johnson’s supporters accused Cabinet Office ministers of having signed off the decision to pass on the former prime minister’s diaries to police. They upped the ante on the already febrile Tory benches by calling the decision to hand over evidence of gatherings at Chequers during Covid the “final straw”. Asked whether the-then chancellor broke Covid rules at the Buckinghamshire mansion, the press secretary said: “No, definitely not.”Įarlier, Johnson’s allies issued a dramatic warning to Sunak, saying they would meet on Wednesday to “consider options” about how to force the government to stop “witch-hunts”. However, they were much more categorical that Sunak had not attended the events in contention at Chequers. Sunak found out that the police had been informed at some point between 19 May and the facts becoming public on 23 May, No 10 said, without offering a specific date.ĭowning Street refused to say whether Johnson would lose the Conservative whip should he be charged with further lockdown breaches, with Sunak’s press secretary saying No 10 would not respond to questions about the “hypothetical” scenario. Thames Valley police said they received a report about “potential breaches” of Covid rules on 18 May, while Scotland Yard said the bundle was passed to it the following day. Police were contacted on 16 May about the issue, according to the Cabinet Office. “We have not seen the information or material in question,” said Sunak’s official spokesperson on Wednesday, adding that ministers had “no involvement in this process and were only made aware after the police had been contacted”.
0 kommentar(er)
