Boris Johnson news - live: MPs to investigate PM over potential partygate Commons lies

PM accused of ‘running away’ from Commons drama with twice-delayed India trip

‘The gig’s up’ – senior Tory MP calls on Boris Johnson to resign

Boris Johnson is set to be investigated for potentially lying to MPs over parties held at Number 10, after a landmark decision by the House of Commons.

This comes after the prime minister rejected a call by former Brexit minister Steve Baker for him to resign over Partygate, insisting that he has “absolutely nothing, frankly, to hide”.

Tory MP claimed the prime minister “now should be long gone” after – in a major U-turn, amid fears of a rebellion – the government backed down from a bid to force its MPs to delay a vote on whether to hold a Commons inquiry into whether he misled parliament, which is now expected to go ahead.

Ahead of Thursday’s debate, Labour threatened to plaster the names of MPs who blocked the probe across election leaflets, and accused Mr Johnson of using his two-day trip to India as a distraction.

Speaking from a JCB factory in Gujarat, Mr Johnson claimed he was “very keen for every possible form of scrutiny” and said MPs “must do whatever they want.”

In the Commons, the SNP’s Ian Blackford branded Mr Johnson a “liar” – and was not ordered to retract his remark by the Speaker.

Key Points

• Boris Johnson insists he has ‘absolutely nothing, frankly, to hide'
• Government makes major U-turn over Partygate inquiry
• Nadhim Zahawi labels Partygate inquiry vote ‘petty politics'
• Motion tabled to delay probe into whether PM misled Parliament
• Boris Johnson signals visa flexibility with India to win trade deal
• PM offers apology 35 times during his Commons appearance

[21 April 2022 17:16 · Eleanor Sly]

Johnson ‘is leading the Conservative Party into the sewer,’ Rayner

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said the “Prime Minister is leading the Conservative Party into the sewer.”

She adding: “It’s now up to members opposite to decide whether they follow him. It is up to members to decide whether it is a red line for the Prime Minister of this country to break the ministerial code, break the trust of the British public and get away with it.

“As my honourable friend, the member for Rhondda said, the only way of getting to the bottom of this issue and regaining the public confidence in our democracy is by respecting the processes that have been created to enshrine the rules of our Parliament.

“Although, I will point out that this process that we are enacting now today is only in place because the Prime Minister has failed to do the decent thing and resign.”

[21 April 2022 17:36 · Eleanor Sly]

Government’s cost of living work group has not met for six months

The government’s working group to address the cost living has not met for six months despite surging energy prices, The Independent has learned.

The inter-ministerial group on the cost of living last met in early November 2021 but has since ground to a complete halt with no meetings held since the beginning of the Partygate scandal.

The revelation comes after widespread criticism of the government’s response to the cost of living crisis, with ministers accused of being “asleep at the wheel” and focused on other matters.

Jon Stone reports:

[21 April 2022 18:00 · Eleanor Sly]

Home Office staff to tell bosses they feel ‘nothing but deepest shame’ over ‘ungodly’ Rwanda plan

Home Office staff have said they feel “nothing but the deepest shame” about Priti Patel’s Rwanda plan in questions and comments being put to the permanent secretary, The Independent can reveal.

Civil servants are due to tell Matthew Rycroft on Thursday afternoon the department is “yet again having its name dragged through the mud” by introducing the “ungodly, immoral” policy, and call on the home secretary to answer their questions about the plan directly.

The critical feedback has been posted by Home Office employees on Slido – a platform used to gather questions ahead of online meetings.

May Bulman has more:

[21 April 2022 18:20 · Eleanor Sly]

Sir Keir Starmer think Johnson should go but doesn’t call for election

Sir Keir Starmer did not call for a general election, but stated that he thinks Boris Johnson should go.

He said it is for the Prime Minister’s own MPs to “reflect on the situation” and come to a conclusion as to whether they are “still prepared to go on defending the indefensible”.

When asked if a general election should be called now, he said: “I think the Prime Minister’s lost trust, I don’t think he has the moral authority to lead, and I think he should go.

“Obviously I can’t force that - it’s for his own MPs to reflect on the situation they are in and decide for themselves whether they’re still prepared to go on defending the indefensible. I don’t think they should. I think they should call on him to go.”

When asked whether that means he does not think there should be a general election now, he said: “I think many people think he should resign, including some of his own MPs, but it’s only when the majority of them think that he should go that in the end he will go.”

He added: “I think the country is crying out for change, so of course I think there should be change. But the issue before the House today was whether the Prime Minister had the confidence of his own MPs to support him in relation to what I think were misleading statements made to the House. And in the end his MPs showed that they didn’t support him in that.”

[21 April 2022 18:40 · Eleanor Sly]

‘Honesty and integrity matter in our politics, and for our democracy,’ tweets shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves

[21 April 2022 19:00 · Eleanor Sly]

PM too ‘distracted’ by partygate allegations to lead country, says leader of Lib Dems

The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Ed Davey, speaking to BBC News, said: “The Tory MPs were clearly too embarrassed to back the Prime Minister today but I’m afraid they are too weak to sack him.

“And I think that’s what we need, we need the Prime Minister gone.

“The country is facing some huge crises: the cost of living crisis here at home hitting millions of families and pensioners, as well as the international crisis in Ukraine.

“And we need a Prime Minister who can provide leadership, who isn’t distracted and who has the trust of the British people.

“It is pretty clear Boris Johnson has lost that trust and we have a Conservative Party incapable of taking the measures that are needed to restore trust.”

[21 April 2022 19:20 · Eleanor Sly]

Partygate: The Tory MPs who have refused to back Boris Johnson to lead them into general election

Boris Johnson is under renewed pressure over Partygate, despite apologising dozens of times in the Commons for the Covid law-breaking birthday bash which saw him fined by police.

Mark Harper and Steve Baker became the latest Conservative MPs to break ranks this week, calling for the prime minister’s resignation over the scandal.

The Independent took a closer look at the Tory MPs who have either called on Mr Johnson to quit, or refused to back him to lead the party into the next general election.

Adam Forrest has more:

[21 April 2022 19:45 · Eleanor Sly]

Should Boris Johnson be investigated further over Partygate? Have your say

MPs will get the opportunity to debate, and vote on, whether Boris Johnson should be referred to the Commons privileges committee over potentially false statements he made to parliament about Partygate, Speaker Lindsay Hoyle has announced. And we want to know what you think should happen next.

Have your say. Click on the link below to find out more:

[21 April 2022 20:10 · Eleanor Sly]

Sunak refuses to say if he has benefited from wife’s non-dom status

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has refused to say whether he and his family have benefited from his wife’s non-domicile tax status.

In his first public grilling since The Independent revealed Akshata Murty’s non-dom status, Mr Sunak insisted that she had “followed all the rules”.

Asked by the BBC if his household benefited – or could benefit – from Ms Murty’s status, he replied: “She has always followed all the rules, paid all the tax in the UK that is due, and paid tax internationally on her international investments.”

Adam Forrest writes:

[21 April 2022 20:30 · Eleanor Sly]

Partygate: Boris Johnson loses his cool with TV interviewer as he insists he has ‘nothing to hide’

Boris Johnson today lost his cool as he fended off questions about Partygate during his visit to India and insisted he has “absolutely nothing to hide”.

As Sky News interviewer Beth Rigby fired off a series of queries about lockdown-breaching parties at 10 Downing Street, an increasingly tetchy prime minister looked at his watch and told her: “I want to talk about the point of this trip... Ask me questions relating to the trip.”

The interview descended into a row over how many minutes were being devoted to the scandal rather than Mr Johnson’s trade agenda, with the Sky political editor protesting that she had not spent as long on Partygate as the BBC, and the prime minister replying: “It’s not a competition. Get onto the subject of the trip.”

Andrew Woodcock has more: