Boris Johnson aide denies reports PM has been in tears during meetings with angry MPs

A report at the weekend said the Prime Minister was "close to tears" when he met with backbenchers following a statement to the Commons last Wednesday.

Johnson stood up in the Commons to admit that he had attended a party in the Number 10 garden for 25 minutes in May 2020 during lockdown restrictions. He claimed he thought it was “a work event”.

The Sunday Times reported that afterwards he headed to a Commons tea room. Some MPs told the paper he repeated the claim that he had done nothing wrong. 

But another tea-room witness said he had a tough time, confronted by at least one MP who watched loved ones die of Covid, unable to visit them, while No 10 partied. “Boris was white-faced and close to tears,” this MP said. “He was absolutely contrite.”

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Ahead of PMQs this afternoon - in another day of high drama - it emerged that one Tory MP had defected to Labour over the Partygate affair.

During PMQs Johnson then faced a fresh barrage of calls to step down including from former Cabinet minister David Davis.

After the stormy session, the PM's press secretary said he would be meeting with more backbench MPs today.

Johnson held meetings in his Commons office on Tuesday to try to shore up his support in his party as he fights for the survival of his premiership.

His press secretary said: “He regularly meets MPs, he was doing exactly that yesterday and will do the same today.

“The broad message of all of these meetings is to focus on what we’ve delivered for the country so far since we were elected, from getting Brexit done to record investments in local transport and infrastructure, to tackling this unprecedented pandemic, and we’ve consistently made tough decisions which have resulted in us being in the position we’re in now.”

She said reports that the Prime Minister had cried in meetings with MPs were “not true”.

Number 10 has said Johnson will fight any no confidence vote launched against him by his own MPs and expects to fight the next General Election.

The Prime Minister was told by former minister and senior Tory MP David Davis (above) to "in the name of God, go" in the Commons on Wednesday, soon after Bury South MP Christian Wakeford - who was elected in 2019 with just a 402 majority - staged a dramatic defection to Labour minutes before Prime Minister's Questions began.

Johnson went into the Commons with his premiership on life support, as a group of Tories who won their seats in the 2019 election landslide appeared to have lost faith in their boss.

But the anger levelled at the PM was not contained to just one wing of the Conservative Party, and Johnson's press secretary said he would have further meetings with MPs on Wednesday as he attempted to shore up support on his backbenches.

Referring to Wakeford, the press secretary said: "I think we're obviously sorry to see a colleague - who was elected by constituents, who voted for a Boris Johnson-led government - leave and attempt to put Keir Starmer into No 10, which will be a disaster for the country."

After Johnson said in the Commons the Tories had won in Bury South once and would again, the press secretary said the PM would lead his party into the next election.

When asked if Johnson would also fight any no confidence vote in him by his party and whether he was the best man for the job, the press secretary said: "Yes."

She said: "Our focus is very clear in terms of delivering the ambitious agenda that we have set out, that we were elected on in 2019, and we want to continue to work together as Conservatives to deliver this."

Wakeford accused Johnson of being "incapable of offering the leadership and government this country deserves" as he switched sides.

A Labour spokesperson said the party had been in talks with Wakeford for "some time" and would welcome an election.

He said their contact pre-dated the Downing Street party allegations.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer met with Wakeford personally on Monday evening, the spokesman said.

Asked during a briefing with journalists if Labour are in talks with any more Tory MPs who might be considering defecting, the spokesman said: "I am not going to get into that."

The Prime Minister's press secretary said she was not aware of any further impending defections of Tory MPs.

She said: "The Prime Minister understands the anger and the hurt that these ongoing allegations have caused across the country and in Parliament and that's why he's addressed these allegations where he has been able to, and why we are having an investigation to establish the full facts of what has happened."

Setting out what the PM had been saying to MPs he had met with, she said: "The broad message of all of these meetings is to focus on what we've delivered for the country so far since we were elected, from getting Brexit done to record investments in local transport and infrastructure, to tackling this unprecedented pandemic, and we've consistently made tough decisions which have resulted in us being in the position we're in now."

In the Commons, Johnson apologised once again for the Partygate saga.
But he said it was for senior official Sue Gray's inquiry "to come forward with an explanation of what happened", as he indicated the report would be published next week.

Facing loud jeers from the Conservative benches as he tried to ask his first question, Starmer accused Tory MPs of having "brought their own boos" to Parliament, in a nod to the "bring your own booze" party in Downing Street in May 2020 that the Prime Minister has admitted he attended.

Asked during PMQs if he would resign, the PM said he would not.

In one particularly highly-charged moment, Davis told Johnson he had spent weeks defending him from "angry constituents", including by reminding them of the "successes of Brexit".

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He said: "I expect my leaders to shoulder the responsibility for the actions they take. Yesterday, he did the opposite of that so I will remind him of a quotation which may be familiar to his ear: Leopold Amery to Neville Chamberlain.

"You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. In the name of God, go."

Johnson replied: "What I can tell him - I don't know what quotation he is alluding to - what I can tell him is and I think have told this House repeatedly, I take full responsibility for everything done in this Government and throughout the pandemic."

Seven Tory MPs have now publicly called for Johnson to go, far short of the 54 required to submit letters of no-confidence to the backbench 1922 Committee. The number would have been eight following Davis's comments but Wakeford's defection means the tally is unchanged.

Andrew Bridgen, one of the seven, told the PA news agency he expected 20 more letters to go in to 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady from 2019-intake MPs on Wednesday.