Boris Johnson 'has nothing to hide' despite claims Sue Gray report will force PM to resign

Boris Johnson is happy for the Parliamentary Privileges Committee to investigate claims he misled Parliament about Downing Street parties during lockdown as he “has nothing to hide”, a minister has said.

Last week the Government withdrew an attempt to force Tory MPs to delay the investigation until after the Sue Gray report was published. This left MPs able to approve the inquiry without the need for a vote.

Explaining why Downing Street decided to pull the amendment to delay the vote, Technology Minister Chris Philp said it was because the Prime Minister “feels he has nothing to hide” and does not object to “even more scrutiny” over the Partygate scandal.

The minister pointed out Mr Johnson will now be subject to three separate investigations, one by the Metropolitan Police, another by senior civil servant Ms Gray and the third by the Commons Committee.

“They decided that since the Prime Minister feels he has nothing to hide [he] doesn’t mind even more scrutiny,” Mr Philp told Sky News.

He added: “He said he has nothing to hide and therefore doesn’t mind Parliament performing whatever scrutiny that it wants to.

“So they just got on with it and had the vote last Thursday.”

It comes as The Times claims Ms Gray’s report into lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street is so damning senior officials believe Mr Johnson will have no choice but to resign, however.

The publication of the senior civil servant’s full report, which was delayed after the Metropolitan Police announced they were launching their own inquiry into the allegations, is said to be even more personally critical of the Prime Minister.

An interim report published in January saw Ms Gray claim there had been “failures of leadership and judgment” in No 10 over the Partygate scandal.

But senior officials told the newspaper the completed document goes much further and could end his premiership.

An official told the newspaper: “Sue’s report is excoriating. It will make things incredibly difficult for the Prime Minister.

“There’s an immense amount of pressure on her – her report could be enough to end him.”

Mr Johnson is understood to have attended six of the 12 events being investigated by the police.

He, alongside his wife and Chancellor Rishi Sunak, has already received a fine for attending one event – a gathering in the Cabinet Room in June 2020 to mark Mr Johnson’s 56th birthday.

The Met police’s inquiry remains ongoing, and Downing Street has confirmed that should any fines be issued to Mr Johnson or Cabinet Secretary Simon Case between now and 5 May – the date of the local elections – it would be made public.

The Prime Minister’s deputy spokesman clarified this after the Met said it would withhold any further information relating to its investigation into Covid rule-breaking parties until after the local elections.