Boris Johnson broke lockdown laws by attending gatherings in Downing Street and believes the rules do not apply to him, John Major has said.
In a savage attack on Johnson, the former Conservative Prime Minister said it looked like the “truth has been optional”in Downing Street.
In a speech in London the former Tory leader said parliament “has a duty” to act in what was a barely disguised call to Conservative MPs to remove the Prime Minister.
Major openly said he believed that Johnson and his team had broken the law with lockdown parties in Downing Street and the cover up and excuses left the government looking “distinctly shifty”.
He said: “At No 10, the prime minister and officials broke lockdown laws. Brazen excuses were dreamed up. Day after day the public was asked to believe the unbelievable. Ministers were sent out to defend the indefensible – making themselves look gullible or foolish.”
“No government can function properly if its every word is treated with suspicion… The lack of trust in the elected portion of our democracy cannot be brushed aside.”
“Parliament has a duty to correct this. If it does not, and trust is lost at home, our politics is broken.”
In a fierce and wide ranging criticism Major said Johnson had regularly sent ministers out to “defend the indefensible” and was badly tarnishing the UK’s reputation overseas with populist-style “megaphone diplomacy”.
Major landed a double blow on Johnson saying the Brexit agreement on the Northern Ireland Protocol was “one of the worst pieces of negotiation in recent history” and that the UK was punching below its weight by not being at the top table over the Ukraine crisis.
Major added: “The Prime Minster and our present government not only challenge the law, but seem to believe they, and they alone, need not obey the rules, traditions and conventions of our public life.
“The repeated charge that there is one law for the government and one for everyone else is politically deadly. And it has struck home.”
It came as Johnson refused to say whether he will resign if he is fined for breaching lockdown restrictions.
Asked directly at a press conference with Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg if he would resign if he is issued with a fixed penalty notice for breaching lockdown, the PM twice dodged an answer.
He said: “That process must be completed and I’m looking forward to it being completed and that’s the time to say more on that.”
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