Page:Fifth Report - Matter referred on 21 April 2022 (conduct of Rt Hon Boris Johnson).pdf/89

31 January 2022

[Boris Johnson] “[…] I want to say sorry. I am sorry for the things we simply did not get right and sorry for the way this matter has been handled. It is no use saying that this or that was within the rules, and it is no use saying that people were working hard—this pandemic was hard for everyone. We asked people across this country to make the most extraordinary sacrifices—not to meet loved ones, not to visit relatives before they died— and I understand the anger that people feel.” [Theresa May] “What the Gray report does show is that No. 10 Downing Street was not observing the regulations they had imposed on members of the public, so either my right hon. Friend had not read the rules, or did not understand what they meant—and others around him—or they did not think the rules applied to No. 10. Which was it?” [Boris Johnson] “No, that is not what the Gray report says. It is not what the Gray report says, but I suggest that my right hon. Friend waits to see the conclusion of the inquiry.” [Ed Davey] “[…] Does the Prime Minister understand? Does he care about the enormous hurt his actions have caused to bereaved families across our country? Will he finally accept that the only decent thing he can do now is to resign?” [Boris Johnson] “I do care deeply about the hurt that is felt across the country about the suggestion that things were going on in No. 10 that were in contravention of the covid rules […] I have apologised several times, but I must say that I think we should wait for the outcome of the inquiry before jumping to the conclusions that the right hon. Gentleman has raised.” [Karl Turner] “We now know that there is a criminal investigation into the party that took place on 13 November 2020 in the Prime Minister’s flat to celebrate the exit of Mr Cummings. On 8 December last year, the Prime Minister came to that Dispatch Box and flatly denied the very idea that any such party had taken place […] He has inadvertently misled the House, so the very least he should do is get to that Dispatch Box and correct the record.” [Boris Johnson] “No. I stand by what I said, and I would simply urge the hon. Member to wait for the outcome of the inquiry. That is what he needs to do.” [Colum Eastwood] “While the Prime Minister was eating birthday cake with his pals, people were standing outside nursing home windows looking in at their loved ones dying. Contrary to what the Prime Minister has said multiple times from that very Dispatch Box, any objective reading of Sue Gray’s update makes it absolutely clear that the rules were broken multiple times in Downing Street […]” [Boris Johnson] “The hon. Gentleman really has to read the report. He has to look at the report, and he must wait—Everything he has said is, I am afraid, not substantiated by the report. He should look at it, and wait for the police inquiry.” [Catherine West] “As the Prime Minister will recall, during Prime Minister’s Question Time on 8 December, I asked “whether there was a party in Downing Street on 13 November”. Now the report says, as one of the bullet points on the first page, that there was “a gathering in the No 10 Downing Street flat” and “a gathering in No 10 Downing Street on the departure of a special adviser”. Did the Prime Minister inadvertently mislead this House?” [Boris Johnson] “I stick by what I said to the hon. Lady, and if she cares about democracy and due process, she should wait until the inquiry has been concluded.”

9 February 2022

[Fabian Hamilton] “In the last few minutes, a photo has emerged of the Prime Minister in Downing Street, on 15 December 2020, surrounded by alcohol, food and people wearing tinsel. It looks a lot like one of the Christmas parties that he told us never happened […] Will the Prime Minister be referring that party to the police, as it is not one of those already being investigated?” [Boris Johnson] “[…] In what the hon. Gentleman has just said I am afraid he is completely in error.”