Boris mocked by East AND West as Biden’s spokeswoman makes ‘ambushed by cake’ gag

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The ridicule of Boris Johnson over the Partygate scandal has extended across the East and West, with U.S. President Joe Biden’s spokeswoman laughing at the Prime Minister being ‘ambushed by cake’ at a birthday party in No10. 

White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday said Biden has ‘never been ambushed by a cake’ as she responded to a question on the lockdown-breaching parties at Downing Street.

TV channels in Russia have also been revelling in Mr Johnson’s discomfort, with one branding him ‘the most disliked, disrespected and ridiculed character in Britain’ who was ‘completely under the control and heel of his young wife’ Carrie.

They declared that the Partygate report would have ended up in the ‘Victorian sewers’ of London if it were up to the PM. 

Mr Johnson himself squirmed during a press conference in Ukraine when he was asked by the international media why the world should take his diplomacy seriously when he cancelled a planned call with Russian President Vladimir Putin because the PM was busy fielding furious questions from MPs.

Over in the U.S., a reporter asked Psaki whether the Partygate controversy surrounding Mr Johnson had impacted President Biden and the PM’s ability to press Putin on Ukraine. He then asked: ‘Has the president ever been ambushed by cake?’

The White House Press Secretary, who began to laugh at the question, said: ‘Has the President ever been ambushed by a cake? Not that I’m aware of.’

Tory Minister Conor Burns had defended the PM by saying he had been ‘ambushed’ with a birthday cake while working at Number 10 after it was revealed Mr Johnson had attended a gathering, complete with a Union Jack cake and singing, that was organised by his wife Carrie in the Cabinet Room on June 19, 2020.  

The UK was under strict Covid lockdown rules at the time and the ensuing fallout of Partygate has endangered Mr Johnson’s premiership.  

It comes as a slew of Tory MPs, including former Prime Minister Theresa May, publicly decried Johnson’s behaviour last night, accusing him of running No10 like a ‘medieval court’ and issuing a stark warning about the possibility of a party coup.  

Psaki didn’t comment on PartyGate but did stress the U.S. and UK have an ‘important partnership’ and praised the British for their help with the situation in the Ukraine.

She also said she hasn’t spoken with President Biden about Johnson’s career-threatening scandal. 

‘I have not spoken with him specifically about the reports in the UK. But what I can tell you is that he is confident in the important partnership we have with the United Kingdom – the role they play as an important partner and making clear to Russia the unacceptable nature of the buildup of troops and their bellicose rhetoric as it relates to Ukraine. And that certainly has not changed despite cakes in anyone’s faces,’ Psaki said. 

Today, Mr Johnson warned Putin that he will be hit with crippling economic sanctions ‘the moment the first Russian toe cap crosses’ into Ukraine as the PM cautioned the Kremlin against a potential invasion.

Speaking during a joint press conference in Kiev alongside the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Mr Johnson said the world must face up to the ‘grim reality’ of more than 100,000 Russian troops massed at the border. 

The premier told Mr Putin a military incursion into Ukraine would be a ‘political disaster’, a ‘humanitarian disaster’ and a ‘military disaster’.

Meanwhile, Mr Zelensky said these are ‘challenging times for Ukraine and for Europe’ as he welcomed the UK’s continued support for his nation’s sovereignty. 

The PM travelled to Ukraine this morning as he fled the pressure cooker of Westminster following the publication of Sue Gray’s ‘update’ on the Partygate scandal.   

Still reeling from news that police are investigating four allegedly lockdown-busting bashes he attended, Mr Johnson held talks with Mr Zelensky against the backdrop of Moscow’s menacing military mobilisation. 

The diplomatic mission got off to a rocky start after Downing Street cancelled a planned call between Mr Johnson and Mr Putin last night because the PM was busy fielding furious questions from MPs. The call is now expected to take place tomorrow.  

Vladimir Putin tonight said the U.S. and NATO have ‘ignored’ the Kremlin’s concerns in recent correspondence as the Russian president made his first direct comments on the Ukraine crisis since December.  

Mr Putin argued that it’s possible to negotiate an end to the standoff if interests of all parties, including Russia’s security concerns, are taken into account. 

Mr Johnson said this evening in Kiev: ‘We have to face a grim reality which is that as we stand here today more than 100,000 Russian troops are gathering on your border in perhaps the biggest demonstration of hostility towards Ukraine in our lifetimes.

‘And the potential deployment dwarfs the 30,000 troops that Russia sent to invade Crimea in 2014, since that time of course as everybody knows 13,000 Ukrainians have been killed, and Ukraine has been plunged into nearly a decade of war.

‘It goes without saying that a further Russian invasion of Ukraine would be a political disaster, a humanitarian disaster, in my view it would also be for Russia, for the world, a military disaster as well.’

He added: ‘Alongside other countries we are also preparing a package of sanctions and other measures to be enacted the moment the first Russian toe cap crosses further into Ukrainian territory.’

A joint statement from Mr Johnson and Mr Zelensky issued after their talks set out how the UK will stand ‘shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine in the face of ongoing Russian aggression’. 

The statement, released by the offices of the Prime Minister and the President, said: ‘The Prime Minister emphasised the United Kingdom’s unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders.

‘The United Kingdom stands shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine in the face of ongoing Russian aggression, which threatens regional peace and security and undermines the global order. The two leaders emphasised that it is the right of every Ukrainian to determine their own future.’  

As the domestic scandal rages while Mr Johnson turns his focus abroad: 

Mr Johnson told MPs 42 times during his Commons statement last night that they need to wait for the outcome of the police inquiry;  No10 has refused to commit to making public if Mr Johnson is fined for breaching lockdown laws, with Scotland Yard saying names of those given fixed penalty notices will not be relased; Deputy PM Dominic Raab insisted Mr Johnson is ‘getting on with the job’ but dodged giving a full-hearted defence of his swipe at Keir Starmer for failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile. ‘I can’t substantiate that claim,’ Mr Raab told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme; Mr Johnson has pledged to take regular ‘strategic advice’ from election guru Lynton Crosby as he tried to appease angry MPs; The premier attacked former No10 chief Dominic Cummings comparing him to Shakespearian villain Iago while he is good-natured Othello;A snap poll has found two-third of the public do not accept Mr Johnson’s grudging apology over Partygate.  

Deputy PM Dominic Raab tried to shrug off the delay to the call with Mr Putin this morning, saying there are ‘always scheduling issues between any two heads of government’ and claiming Mr Johnson has been ‘leading the transatlantic response’ to the crisis. 

Mr Raab said: ‘Any prime minister, any president – it happens all the time – their diaries and their call sheets dart around the place because they are balancing things.’

He told Sky News: ‘This Prime Minister is the one who has been leading the transatlantic response, with the United States, with European allies, with the most robust approach on sanctions, providing support.

Mr Johnson travelled to Ukraine on a chartered plane from Stansted with staff and a small pool of journalists. Downing Street has said his call with Mr Putin is now expected to be tomorrow.

The visit to Ukraine comes after a Russian warplane breached the airspace of Estonia – where hundreds of British troops are based – in a suspected move to test NATO defences this weekend.

Estonian authorities yesterday handed a protest note to Russian diplomats in Tallinn after a Russian Su-27 fighter jet violated the NATO state’s airspace near the island of Vaindloo in the Gulf of Finland. 

The warplane did not post a flight plan and its transponder was switched off as encroached on Estonian territory – a move described by Tallinn ‘a very unfortunate and serious incident’.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that the U.S. and its allies have ignored Russia’s top security demands but added that Moscow remains open to more talks with the West on easing soaring tensions over Ukraine.

Putin argued that it’s possible to negotiate an end to the standoff if interests of all parties, including Russia’s security concerns, are taken into account.

‘I hope that we will eventually find a solution, although we realize that it’s not going to be easy,’ Putin said amid a continuing buildup of an estimated 100,000 Russian troops near Ukraine that fueled Western fear of an invasion.

Russia has denied having an intention to attack its neighbor, but talks between Russia and the West have so far failed to yield any progress.

Washington and its allies have rejected Moscow’s demand for a halt to NATO’s expansion to Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations, a freeze on the deployment of weapons there and a rollback of alliance forces from Eastern Europe, describing them as nonstarters. They emphasized that Ukraine, like any other nation, has the right to choose alliances.

The Russian leader countered that argument by noting that the Western allies’ refusal to meet Russia’s demands violates their obligations on integrity of security for all nations. He warned that Ukraine’s accession to NATO could lead to a situation where Ukrainian authorities launch a military action to reclaim control over Crimea or areas controlled by Russia-backed separatists in the country’s east.

‘Imagine that Ukraine becomes a NATO member and launches those military operations,’ Putin said. ‘Should we fight NATO then? Has anyone thought about it?’

Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 following the ouster of the country’s Moscow-friendly president and later threw its weight behind rebels in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, triggering a conflict that has killed over 14,000.

Speaking after talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban, who forged close ties with Moscow even though his country is a member of NATO, Putin noted that it’s still possible to negotiate a settlement that would take every party’s concerns into account.

‘We need to find a way to ensure interests and security of all parties, including Ukraine, European nations and Russia,’ Putin said, emphasizing that the West needs to treat Russian proposals seriously to make progress.

The Russian leader argued that NATO’s open-door policy doesn’t oblige the alliance to offer membership to Ukraine, suggesting that the alliance could tell Ukraine that it can’t join ‘due to earlier international obligations.’

He said that French President Emmanuel Macron may soon visit Moscow as part of renewed diplomatic efforts following their call on Monday.

Russia is conducting military exercises on a scale ‘never seen before’ on the Ukrainian border, the head of the UK’s armed forces has warned, in ‘a pattern of coercion and intimidation’ against the West.

Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin gave the assessment to a Cabinet meeting before Mr Johnson departed for Ukraine.

Sir Tony said ‘a significant proportion of Russia’s land combat power was now gathered on the western border, coupled with deterrence operations such as military exercises on a scale never seen before’.

No 10 said he warned this ‘fitted into a pattern of coercion and intimidation that sought to undermine the values and principles of the West’.

Mr Johnson told ministers the situation was ‘deeply concerning and that there were no indications of Russia de-escalating with more than 100,000 troops currently amassed on Ukraine’s border’. 

But Russia’s state-run Rossiya 1 channel claimed Johnson’s ‘anti-Russian hysteria’ was ‘a way to divert attention from domestic problems’ as he sought to ‘stifle’ the scandal over lockdown-breaking parties.

‘Only anti-Russian sanctions can distract from Johnson’s protracted Partygate,’ the channel concluded.

In a report from London, Gazprom Media-owned NTV channel said: ‘If it were in the power of Boris Johnson, [Sue Gray’s report] would have disappeared into the bowels of the Victorian sewers of the city of London.

‘But this did not happen. The report was delivered to the prime minister at Number 10 – the very residence where the parties took place. 

‘Boris Johnson is today the most disliked, disrespected and ridiculed character in Britain.

‘Even schoolchildren are laughing at him.

‘[Dominic Cummings] says Johnson is completely under the control and heel of his young wife, but at the same time has the ambitions of a Roman emperor.’ 

The channel’s London correspondent Liza Gerson continued: ‘In order to preserve himself, to preserve his political career, Boris Johnson is trying to present himself as a kind of saviour of the whole country.

‘Not just the country but the whole world.

‘He is trying to talk about more global issues, but he is being asked extremely shameful and petty questions.’ 

Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie face being questioned by detectives probing several lockdown-breaching Whitehall parties ‘within days’ after a trove of evidence was handed to Scotland Yard. 

Investigators are examining eight dates on which events are said to have taken place and a spokesman said last night that they had gathered 500 pages of information on the ‘Partygate’ scandal.

Rossiya 1 London correspondent Alexander Khabarov meanwhile reported that the UK intended to double its military contingent in Estonia ‘and intensify British aviation operations in the Black Sea region, where it has decided to send a guided missile destroyer.

‘Johnson calls these containment measures and pretends not to hear Moscow’s repeated statements that Russia is not going to attack anyone.’ 

The Russian media’s assault on the British Prime Minister came as Estonian authorities yesterday released a statement on the incursion into its airspace by a Russian Su-27 fighter. 

‘The jet was in Estonian airspace for less than a minute, but it was flying with the transponder in the off mode and remained out of contact with Estonian air traffic control at the time of violating the Estonian border,’ said the NATO member state.

Moscow has since denied the incident took place, despite having a track record of breaching Estonian airspace. 

‘No flights by Russian Su-27 fighter jets were carried out above the Baltic Sea on January 29. 

The Russian Aerospace Forces perform all their flights in strict compliance with the international rules of airspace use, above neutral waters, without violating other states’ borders,’ the Moscow defence ministry said. 

Britain currently has around 900 soldiers in Estonia, a number expected to double in the coming weeks as NATO deploys foreign troops to eastern Europe, but the small Baltic state is seen as vulnerable to a Russian attack in the event of armed conflict in Ukraine. 

Meanwhile new videos showed activity at a Russian military camp in its neighbour and ally Belarus, where the West fears Putin has gathered additional forces.

Another shows large-scale war games involving Russia’s strategic nuclear missile forces in Ivanovo region.

Putin is now believed to have well in excess of 100,000 troops stationed near Ukraine’s borders.

Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the reports of the delayed phone call showed there were ‘real world consequences’ of having a Prime Minister fighting for his political survival and ‘a vital diplomatic opportunity has been missed’. 

Instead of speaking to Johnson on Monday night, Putin spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron. During the exchange, the pair agreed to maintain a dialogue on implementing the Minsk agreements regarding Donbass, a region of eastern Ukraine where Moscow has backed separatist fighters.   

Zelensky today signed a decree to increase the size of Ukraine’s armed forces by 100,000 troops over three years and raise soldiers’ salaries, but insisted the move did not mean war with Russia was imminent. 

Although Russia has massed tens of thousands of troops near Ukraine’s borders, Zelenskiy has repeatedly pushed back against warnings by the United States and other NATO allies that Russia could attack Ukraine at any moment.

‘This decree (was prepared) not because we will soon have a war… but so that soon and in the future there will be peace in Ukraine,’ Zelensky said.

There are currently nearly 250,000 people in Ukraine’s armed forces, which are vastly outnumbered and outgunned by Russia’s.

‘We must be united in domestic politics. You can be in opposition to the government, but you can’t be in opposition to Ukraine,’ Zelensky said.

It comes as Hungarian Defence Minister Tibor Benko yesterday declared that there is no need for NATO to deploy its troops in Hungary, stressing that Hungary is able ‘to perform this task on its own’ in its territory. 

Benko’s reluctance to accept a deployment of foreign NATO troops in its territory became evident on the same day that UK Defence Minister Ben Wallace said it was vital to discourage Putin from invading Ukraine by showing NATO’s willingness for combat as a deterrent.

Wallace said it was ‘important to signal to Putin that the very thing he fears, that is, more NATO close to Russia, would be the consequence of invading Ukraine… This is why the UK offered NATO more ground forces, more readiness as a deterrent.’ 

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is expected to travel to Russia today for talks with Vladimir Putin in which he is likely to ask the Russian President for an increased gas supply.

Orban travels to Moscow in defiance of calls to cancel the trip from opposition parties, who said in a joint statement that it is ‘contrary to our national interests’.

Meanwhile, the US ambassador to the United Nations yesterday alleged Russia will send another 30,000 troops to the Ukrainian border.

‘We’ve seen evidence that Russia intends to expand that presence to more than 30,000 troops near the Belarus-Ukraine border, less than two hours north of Kyiv by early February,’ US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council.

White House Press secretary Jen Psaki said: ‘Russia has the power. They are the aggressor here. They have the power and ability to de-escalate, to pull their troops back from the border, to not push more troops to Belarus, to take steps to deescalate the situation on the ground.’

But Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya accused the US of ‘whipping up hysterics’ by calling for Monday’s UN Security Council meeting to discuss Ukraine, a nod towards their claim that Putin does not intend to invade his eastern European neighbour.

‘The discussions about a threat of war is provocative in and of itself. You are almost calling for this, you want it to happen,’ Nebenzia said. 

In light of the movements and threat posed in Eastern Europe, the US ordered family members of its government employees currently in Belarus to leave the country.

The State Department said: ‘Due to an increase in unusual and concerning Russian military activity near the border with Ukraine, US citizens located in or considering travel to Belarus should be aware that the situation is unpredictable and there is heightened tension in the region.’  

Last Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken extended a diplomatic proposal to step away from a potential conflict on a call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. 

Blinken described the US proposal as something that offers Russia ‘a serious diplomatic path forward,’ but assured that NATO allied nations did not bow to Russia’s demand that it bar ex-Soviet bloc countries from entering the 30-country military alliance. 

Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are set to share another phone call later today. 

Britain and the United States also said yesterday they were looking at targeting people in President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle with sanctions, including powerful business allies.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told parliament that the government was looking at ‘the toughest sanctions regime against Russia we’ve ever had’.

‘Those in and around the Kremlin will have nowhere to hide,’ she said.

‘Even the schoolchildren are laughing at him’: Ridicule of Boris Johnson over partygate extends across the world as foreign media point out he’s ‘spent his life breaking the rules… but now his luck may be running out’

By David Averre for MailOnline

The ridicule of Boris Johnson over the Partygate scandal extended far beyond this island’s shores as news outlets around the world ripped into the Prime Minister.

It comes as a slew of Tory MPs, including former Prime Minister Theresa May, publicly decried Johnson’s behaviour last night, accusing him of running No10 like a ‘medieval court’ and issuing a stark warning about the possibility of a party coup. 

The Prime Minister sheepishly apologised to MPs during the brutal Commons session before jetting off to Ukraine this morning, as reactions from the world’s media – many of which hammered the PM – flooded in.

Some of Europe’s largest newspapers questioned whether Johnson would be able to save himself after ‘a lifetime of breaking the rules’, while others skipped straight to listing his would-be successors and accused him of leveraging the crisis in Ukraine to deflect from domestic chaos.

Spanish daily El Pais saw fit to plaster an image of Johnson clad in hi-vis and maniacally driving a forklift on today’s front page with the headline ‘Report on parties deals another blow to Johnson: The report on gatherings held amid the pandemic condemns alcohol consumption’, while their online reporters noted that Johnson ‘apologised for the scandal but has avoided taking action’. 

Other Spanish papers took an even more direct approach, with business daily Expansión running a feature entitled ‘Goodbye, Boris’, while El Mundo’s inside headline read: ‘Little leadership and much beer’ and also opted for the unflattering forklift shot.

La Repubblica, a leading Italian paper, declared that ‘Boris now risks his career for the alcoholic parties during lockdown’, and claimed the PM ‘has officially entered his darkest hour’, while Corriere della Sera said that Johnson ‘had spent a lifetime breaking the rules’ and questioned whether he would be able to save himself this time. 

Just across the Channel, the French press were equally as savage. The London correspondent for French daily Libération wrote ‘It’s no longer party time for Boris Johnson’, before tearing into the Prime Minister’s obnoxious behavior over the course of his premiership.

‘Gone are the days of arrogant victories and repungnant slogans. Two and a half years after his election as head of the United Kingdom, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is up against the wall. The party is over, the jokes too.’

Even France’s most well-read conservative newspaper Le Figaro made no bones about the Partygate scandal, highlighting Sue Gray’s findings of ‘excessive alcohol consumption’ and stressing that its contents were ‘stark’, even in the absence of considerable detail.

German tabloid Bild chose to focus on the Prime Minister’s half-hearted apology in the Commons yesterday in which he said he would ‘fix’ the situation but provided no explanation as to how.

Bild’s led with a headline of ‘Boris’ faint ”sorry!” before zeroing in with ‘for him, it seems, a faint ‘sorry’ is all that follows from the devastating preliminary investigation into his banned corona parties. Johnson’s speech had begun as if it were his last in the British Parliament.’

In Norway meanwhile, the nation’s most well-read online publication Verdens Gang (VG) bypassed a review of the Partygate scandal and skipped straight to choosing Johnson’s replacement.  

‘Many are calling for Boris Johnson’s resignation – here are his possible successors’, the headline read. 

Again, Boris in hi-vis seemed to be the preferred image to illustrate his bumbling persona amid the fallout.

Moving further afield, the Russian media were among the most critical of the PM, focusing on Johnson’s postponement of a scheduled phonecall with Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday.

Johnson was set to speak with Putin to discuss the tension in Ukraine, but ultimately snubbed the Russian strongman as he scrambled to deal with the domestic catastrophe in the wake of Sue Gray’s preliminary report.  

Russia’s news channel NTV revelled in the Prime Minister’s discomfort, branding him ‘the most disliked, disrespected and ridiculed character in Britain’ who was ‘completely under the control and heel of his young wife’ Carrie.

NTV’s London correspondent went on to declare the Partygate report would have ended up in the ‘Victorian sewers’ of the capital if it were up to the PM, and said that ‘even schoolchildren are laughing at him.’

RIA Novosti reported Johnson’s colleagues had admonished his decision to postpone the phonecall with Putin, while other media speculated that the Prime Minister was leveraging the crisis in Ukraine to deflect from his poor conduct at home.

Finally, the American press took turns lambasting the Prime Minister over Partygate.

Some chose to highlight Sue Gray’s revelations of ‘serious failures’ in his leadership while others went so far as to suggest he was teetering on the brink of downfall.

FOX News and Wall Street Journal stuck to an analysis of Sue Gray’s preliminary report and discussed what the findings of ‘excessive alcohol consumption’ and ‘failures of leadership and judgement’ could mean for Johnson’s premiership, though ultimately stressed he would not resign.

But CNN’s broadcast went hard on Johnson’s ‘Borish behaviour’ and the New York Times pushed it even further, suggesting that Johnson’s tenure as PM was ‘hanging by a thread’ as a result of the scandal.

‘Whether Mr. Johnson is removed or granted a reprieve, the past few weeks amount to a remarkable fall from grace. Now, with his authority severely wounded, his tenure is hanging by a thread,’ the New York Times article read.

‘Behind the machinations at Westminster, crucially, is overwhelming public anger. The national mood is furious, disdainful: Nearly two-thirds of the country wants Mr. Johnson to resign.’

Downing Street caved into mounting pressure today by confirming Johnson will admit if he is fined over Partygate – as another MP declared sending a no-confidence letter.

No10 backed down in the face of fury from Tories and the Opposition at the prospect of the PM never revealing whether he had broken the law. 

The row came as Scotland Yard made clear that it will follow police guidelines that people who receive fixed penalty notices are not routinely identified – suggesting that government officials will not be identified.

Meanwhile, backbencher Peter Aldous has joined a growing group of Conservatives to have publicly declared sending a letter of no confidence to the powerful 1922 committee.

‘After a great deal of soul-searching, I have reached the conclusion that the Prime Minister should resign,’ the Waveney MP tweeted. 

‘It is clear that he has no intention of doing so and I have therefore written to the Chairman of the 1922 Committee of Backbench Conservative MPs, advising him that I have no confidence in the Prime Minister as Leader of the Conservative Party.’ 

Under party rules, 54 letters need to be sent to 1922 committee chair Sir Graham Brady in order to trigger a formal confidence vote – but he never reveals how many he has received until the threshold is reached.  

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab this morning insisted that ‘justice must be done and seen to be done’ – but Downing Street refused to guarantee that perpetrators would be identified. 

However, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman performed a U-turn this afternoon, telling reporters: ‘Obviously we are aware of the significant public interest with regard to the Prime Minister and we would always look to provide what updates we can on him, specifically.’

Asked if that meant No 10 would say if he was given a fixed penalty notice, the spokesman said: ‘Hypothetically, yes.’

Scotland Yard had pointed to College of Policing guidance stating that the names of people dealt with by fixed penalty notices – the likely punishment for a breach of the coronavirus regulations – would not normally be disclosed. 

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said: ‘I can’t believe this needs saying. The public have a right to know if the Prime Minister is found to have committed an offence by the police.’

It came as Downing Street revealed Johnson and his senior ministers did not discuss the Partygate scandal at a meeting of the Cabinet this morning despite growing Tory fury and warnings the PM should be ‘very worried’ about a coup.