Boris Johnson has been savaged over partygate at an appearance in front of a powerful Commons committee.
SNP MP Pete Wishart told the Prime Minister that if he was fined over the lockdown breaches then “you’re pretty much toast aren’t you?”
The veteran Nationalist tore into the Tory leader at a Liaison Committee session that was supposed to deal with the state of the economy and the war in Ukraine.
But Wishart - chair of the Commons Scottish Affairs committee - refused to play by the rules as he tackled the embarrassed Prime Minister over the 20 lockdown breach fines issued by the Met Police.
Wishart launched a flying-tackle against Johnson at the opening of the session, listing the Tory leader’s various excuses for attending the parties being investigated by police and senior civil servant Sue Gray.
He said: “First, you said there was no rule breaking. Then you claimed you’re aware of any of these parties. Then you said it was a work meeting.”
“Then you said you were outraged by them and then you said you were aware of these events, but they weren’t against the rules.
Finally, you admitted you were at these events, but you were so ignorant of the rules you didn’t realise you were breaking them.”
“You do understand why the public has such difficulty with all this?”
Johnson, however, refused to offer an explanation.
He said: “I don’t in any way wish to minimise the importance of the issue and your point but I just want to return to what I have said and that is: that would come under the category of running commentary, in my view.”
But Wishart was not finished chewing up the Prime Minister, slamming him for holding a dinner party with Tory MPs on the night that the Met issued the first tranche of fines.
The Perthshire MP said: "You thought you’d get away with it and that no one would be interested, The optics last night of parading your MPs in front of the covid bereaved to go and party on the day you received fixed penalty notices was surely dreadful optics?”
Pressed on whether he had broken the ministerial code and whether that would be a resignation issue, Johnson said: “I think you’re just going to have to hold your horses and wait until the conclusion of the investigation when there will be a lot more clarity and I will be back before this committee and, I have no doubt, before the body of the House of Commons.”
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