The Prime Minister is expected to address the Commons tomorrow in his first appearance in Parliament since he became the first serving prime minister to break the law while in office.
But ahead of a statement likely to provoke uproar from the opposition and unhappy Tories alike, friends have suggested he will continue to insist that he did not break his own laws, despite apologising and paying the fixed-penalty notice (FPN) last week.
Mr Johnson has been accused of misleading the Commons over the lockdown-busting gatherings in Downing Street after he was fined for attending a birthday party thrown in his honour in the Cabinet Room in June 2020.
Yet he is expected to press on in defence of the gatherings in the Commons, reiterating that in his view no restrictions were broken while seeking to sweep Partygate under the rug by focusing on the war in Ukraine and the government’s new energy strategy.
A Downing Street source told The Times that Johnson would ‘of course apologise again’ in his statement before MPs tomorrow, but will say ‘we need to continue to focus on the huge priorities we need to deliver for our people,’ in reference to the energy plan and Ukraine.
A close ally of the Prime Minister said that while he accepted ‘mistakes were made’ he would tell MPs there was ‘always an exemption for work and people were working in close proximity in No 10 for very long hours’.
But Mr Johnson’s allies fear the worst is yet to come, with the June 2020 event thought to be the least problematic of those being investigated by police – raising concerns there is a ‘low bar’ that could see him face further fines.
It comes amid further worry that Mr Johnson was pictured drinking at other events being probed – including ‘instigating’ one session by pouring the booze himself.
Energy minister Greg Hands said Boris Johnson will ‘have his say’ on partygate in Parliament this week.
He told Sky News: ‘The Prime Minister will be speaking to Parliament … this week.
‘I do strongly back the Prime Minister,’ he said. ‘I think the Prime Minister is getting on with the job, he’s delivered, and the Government has delivered, in anything from the vaccination programme through (to) the strong support for Ukraine.
‘There is a police investigation going on and we’ll have to see what develops, but as I say the Prime Minister will be in Parliament this week, explaining and facing questions from MPs about what has happened.’
But Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said: ‘This appears to be the PM’s latest pathetic attempt to defend the indefensible.
‘Boris Johnson defied his own law and then lied and lied and lied. While the British public were making huge sacrifices, he was rule-breaking.’
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is defiant in his position that he did not break coronavirus rules according to his closes allies, despite being slapped with a fine from the Met Police for his involvement in the Partygate scandal