Scottish secretary insists PM did not mislead MPs
- Published
Mr Jack (left) is continuing to back the prime minister
Boris Johnson did not mislead parliament when he said there had been no parties in Downing Street, the Scottish secretary has insisted.
Alister Jack said the prime minister had been assured by his leadership team that no rules were broken.
He said Mr Johnson was "furious" when he later found out what had happened, and that his apologies were "genuine".
Mr Jack also said he continued to believe Mr Johnson was the best person to lead the country.
That puts him at odds with Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross, who has called for the prime minister to resign - as have the vast majority of the party's MSPs and former leader Baroness Davidson.
Mr Jack was speaking in the wake of the long-awaited publication of Sue Gray's findings into parties at No 10 during lockdown, which blamed a "failure of leadership" for rule breaking in Downing Street.
Metropolitan Police officers are currently looking into 12 events for alleged breaches of lockdown rules, including three the prime minister reportedly attended and one in his flat.
Speaking to the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme, Mr Jack was asked whether Mr Johnson had misled parliament when he told the Commons on two occasions in December that there had been no Christmas party in Downing Street and that he did not believe any rules had been broken.
He replied: "No he didn't, because he was assured of those things when he asked his leadership team".
Sue Gray said her initial report had been extremely limited by the police inquiry into lockdown parties in No 10
Mr Jack went on to say that it had not yet been established whether there had been a party in the prime minister's flat, despite reports of loud music being played from the office on the night that Dominic Cummings left the government.
And he repeatedly urged people to wait for the outcome of the police investigation before drawing any conclusions about "what was a work event or a leaving party or anything else or indeed a party in its own right".
He added: "I was particularly upset about the two (leaving parties) on the eve of the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral, but he knew nothing of them. He wasn't there. He was sixty miles away, he was away for three days.
"When the cat's away the mice were playing."
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has accused Mr Johnson of being focused only on "saving his own skin" rather than doing what is best for the country.
Mr Jack maintained that the prime minister's apology for what had happened on his watch was "absolutely genuine", adding: "He was appalled by those events and he was furious, as he said at the dispatch box.
"I work closely with the prime minister and I think he is doing a very good job on many fronts - the rollout of the vaccines, he is focusing on the cost of living crisis, he is focusing on the tensions on the Ukraine border.
"He is getting on with the day job, he is contrite for what has happened and he is going to make changes in line with what the report said".
Baroness Davidson and Douglas Ross have both called for the prime minister to resign
Mr Jack also insisted that there was no threat to Mr Ross's leadership of the Scottish Conservatives despite his calls for Mr Johnson to quit as PM.
He said: "Boris Johnson is an excellent prime minister and Douglas is an excellent leader of the Scottish Conservatives holding Nicola Sturgeon to account.
"I am very happy with both of them carrying on in the roles."
Some Conservative backbenchers expressed support for Mr Johnson in the Commons on Monday but others issued stinging rebukes in light of Sue Gray's initial findings.
The senior civil servant said she had been "extremely limited" in how much she could say because of the police investigation, but she will publish an updated report once the police inquiries have concluded
Former Prime Minister Theresa May asked if Mr Johnson had read or understood the Covid rules created by his government, or whether he "believed they did not apply" to No 10, while ex-cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell said the PM no longer had his support.
The SNP's Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, walked out of the Commons on Monday before the Speaker could throw him out for refusing to withdraw claims that the prime minister had lied and misled the House.
He defended his actions on Tuesday morning, saying that the country has a prime minister who "cannot tell the truth" and that this should automatically be a resignation matter.
He added: "My job is to hold the government and hold the prime minister to account. I think the public expect me to stand up and speak truth to power and that is exactly what I was doing".
In a meeting with Tory MPs on Monday evening, the prime minister promised he would make changes to his political operation, which are expected to include the departure of some back room staff and possibly a new chief whip alongside some limited ministerial moves,