Former Brexit minister Steve Baker said the scandal has been “a disaster” that he fears “will reap the whirlwind on polling day.”
Since December last year, a series of media reports alleged that over a dozen rule-breaking gatherings had occurred during the lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 in Downing Street and the Cabinet Office.
Johnson was allegedly present at six gatherings and has so far been fined once by the police over a birthday get-together for him, along with his wife Carrie Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak.
The Prime Minister on Tuesday apologised to Parliament for his denial of rule-breaking after the first allegations emerged, but Parliament on Thursday voted to note that his statements “appear to amount to misleading the House [of Commons],” and referred them to the Committee of Privileges so it can consider whether Johnson’s conduct amounted to a contempt of the House.
Baker, a vehement opponent of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus restrictions, appeared to have been ready to forgive Johnson on Tuesday, saying the prime minister “could not have made a more humble apology.”
However, he had changed his mind soon after a meeting of Conservative backbenchers started that evening.
The interview occurred on Thursday morning before the debate in Parliament on whether to refer the prime minister to the privileges committee for investigation.
During the debate, Bake praised Johnson for finishing the “two jobs” he had been given, namely getting Brexit done and defeating then-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in the 2019 election.
He also said that removing a sitting prime minister is “an extremely grave matter and an extremely big decision, and it tends to untether history.”
“All of us should approach such things with reverence, awe, and an awareness of the difficulty of doing it and the potential consequences,” Baker said, before telling MPs that “the prime minister should just know that the gig is up.”
During the interview, Baker said Johnson had “dealt with Ukraine brilliantly” and is “capable of rising to the gravest of international challenges,” adding, “but the vast majority of the expressed opinion in my constituency of Wycombe is fury.”
He hit out at the CCP virus restrictions, under which people couldn’t visit their dying family members in hospitals or nursing homes or attend funerals of family or friends.
“People lived under barbaric rules. They were told that if they deviated one iota from the law they would kill people. And they suffered for it. Meanwhile in Number 10, where they should have been obeying both the letter and spirit of the rules, clearly they breached both. It’s been a disaster and I fear we will reap the whirlwind on polling day,” he said.
The Epoch Times has reached out the 10 Downing Street for comment.
The Metropolitan police said it will not provide updates on any further Partygate fines until after the local elections, which are set to be held on May 5, but Downing Street has indicated that it will still say whether Johnson or the Cabinet secretary are fined before the local elections.
Another internal investigation into the parties, led by senior civil servant Sue Gray, is expected to publish its report after the police investigation has concluded.
