Time Plus News

Breaking News, Latest News, World News, Headlines and Videos

Dominic Raab admits Downing Street standards were ‘not as they should have been’

Dominic Raab, the deputy UK prime minister, has admitted that the standards in Downing Street were “not as they should have been” during Covid lockdowns, in the wake of the Sue Gray report into multiple parties at the heart of government.

Raab said on Tuesday morning that Boris Johnson, the prime minister, had an “action plan” to remedy some of the organisational failings which, according to the senior civil servant’s report, had contributed to the inappropriate and potentially illegal parties in Number 10.

The report, which revealed that 12 gatherings are being investigated by the Metropolitan Police, rekindled talk of a potential leadership challenge to Johnson.

Former chief whip Andrew Mitchell, who withdrew his support from Johnson on Monday, said on Tuesday that “the erosion of public trust in the prime minister and the Conservative party is not going to go away”.

“These things would have never happened under Margaret Thatcher or Mrs May,” he told the BBC Today programme, referring to Johnson’s predecessor Theresa May. “This, like battery acid, is corroding the fabric of the Conservative party . . . it’s more corrosive than the expenses scandal was.

“Boris is running a modern government like a medieval court.”

The prime minister has hinted at a reshuffle and a clear out of some Downing Street staff, and promised to create an Office of the Prime Minister to remedy organisational deficiencies.

Raab told the Today programme: “I think he recognises that, as Sue Gray said, that the standards expected in Number 10 were not as they should have been.

“The finding she made is the way Number 10 has evolved from being the office just of the prime minister . . . to effectively a midsized government department with the structural, organisational line management leadership that normally would go with a government department.”

Johnson was criticised by senior Tory MPs on Monday afternoon, including May, in his stumbling response to the report by Gray. Ministerial aide Angela Richardson quit, citing “deep disappointment” over the scandal.

Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, said the report showed Johnson was “unfit for office” and urged Conservative MPs to remove the prime minister.

Tory rebels have so far failed to hit the threshold of 54 MPs, 15 per cent of the parliamentary party, needed to trigger a confidence vote in Johnson.

Gary Sambrook, a former rebel, said he had reconsidered after listening carefully to Johnson’s statement on Monday. “He wants to deliver for my constituents and the UK and I support him in doing that. Let’s get on with the job,” he said.

The prime minister appealed to Tory MPs at a private meeting on Monday evening to stick with him, promising that there would no new revelations and saying that he took Covid lockdowns seriously: “I nearly died,” he said.

Asked if Johnson felt personally responsible for any of the parties, Raab said the prime minister had expressed “contrition”.

“He has said, ‘I apologise, we got things wrong’,” but added that neither the prime minister nor he would not comment in detail in a way that would prejudge the police report.

Johnson told MPs that Sir Lynton Crosby, the Australian electoral strategist and architect of previous Tory election victories, was helping to oversee a fightback.

Meanwhile, Downing Street, under pressure from Tory MPs, promised to publish Gray’s full report after the Met concludes its investigation.

Johnson has refused to say if he attended a party in his Downing Street flat on November 13 2020, one of the events being probed.

Although the Gray report did not specify how many events being investigated by the police Johnson attended, he is thought to have been at four of them.

The report was heavily rewritten before publication, at the request of the police, but even in its watered-down form was scathing about “failures of leadership and judgment” in Number 10 and the Cabinet Office.

The Met said on Monday that it was reviewing “more than 300 images and over 500 pages of information” provided by Gray’s team and that it would “fast-track its investigation”.

Source link