Douglas Ross: PM should quit if he misled MPs over party
- Published
Douglas Ross: "There is absolutely no way you can mislead parliament and think you could get off with that."
Boris Johnson must resign if he misled parliament about a Christmas party at Downing Street, the Scottish Conservative leader has said.
Douglas Ross said there had clearly been a party of some sort, which would have been against Covid rules.
The prime minister has apologised for a video showing Downing Street staff joking about a party last year.
But he said he had been "repeatedly assured" that there was no party and that no rules were broken.
Mr Ross said he had been "angry, annoyed and really disappointed" at the video that emerged on Tuesday night, adding that the affair undermined public trust in the Covid rules.
He said he still had confidence in the prime minister to lead the country, but added it would be "completely unacceptable" if he was found to have misled parliament on the issue.
Mr Ross added: "If the prime minister knew about this party last December, knew about this party last week, and was still denying it, then that is the most serious allegation.
"There is absolutely no way you can mislead parliament and think you could get off with that.
"No one should continue in their post if they mislead parliament in that way."
Labour has questioned Mr Johnson's "moral authority" to lead the country during the pandemic, while the SNP has called for him to resign.
Watch Boris Johnson apologise over video of Downing Street staff mocking Christmas party
Downing Street has spent the past week denying that a gathering had taken place at Downing Street on 18 December, at a time when London was in tier three of Covid restrictions and people had been told not to hold Christmas parties.
A source who attended told the BBC that several dozen people had attended an event which included food, drink and party games, and went on past midnight.
And a video obtained by ITV News has now shown the prime minister's then press chief, Allegra Stratton, joking about the party four days after it was said to have been held. Ms Stratton has since resigned.
Mr Johnson apologised for the video at the start of his weekly question session in the Commons, saying: "I understand and share the anger up and down the country at seeing Number Ten staff seeming to make light of lockdown measures."
Cabinet Secretary Simon Case - the top civil servant at Downing Street - is to investigate whether Covid rules were broken, with Mr Johnson saying there would "disciplinary action for all those involved" if they were.
Mr Ross said that this review must provide answers quickly, saying "there are still an awful lot of questions that remain unanswered".
He said Mr Johnson still had his confidence as prime minister, but that "his government have to respond to the very serious allegations that are being made very quickly".
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Mr Ross's predecessor as Tory leader, Baroness Ruth Davidson, said it was not "remotely defensible" to "deny things that are easily provable".
She said the UK government's response to the row was "pathetic", adding: "Believe me, colleagues are furious at this."
Mr Johnson was not at the party himself, and he has accused opposition leaders of "playing politics" with the issue.
He accused Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer of trying to "muddy the waters, confuse the public and to cause needless confusion about the guidance".
Meanwhile Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said that "on the face of it I don't see how the prime minister's accounts can be squared with what is in the public domain".
She said: "I do think there is a very, very serious question mark over the truthfulness of Boris Johnson's statements on this issue."