Keir Starmer said Tory MPs will make fools of themselves trying to defend Boris Johnson as he is expected to “apologise and then excuse himself” over the partygate fine.
The Labour leader said he anticipated a “pathetic display of Tory MPs going out to defend the indefensible” when the Prime Minister comes before the Commons on Tuesday afternoon.
Johnson is due to deliver a statement on being issued with a fixed penalty notice for breaking lockdown rules in Downing Street.
But after issuing an apology the PM is expected to ask MPs to focus on the Ukraine war and the cost of living crisis as the real issues facing the nation.
Starmer said the Tory MPs “all ought to be ashamed of” the Prime Minister’s behaviour and he dismissed the argument put forward by some of the Prime Minister’s allies that Johnson’s punishment was “like a speeding fine”.
The former director of public prosecutions said: “I have never had anybody break down in front of me because they couldn’t drive at 35mph in a 30mph zone; I have had no end of people in tears – in real bits – about complying with rules that really, really hurt them.”
He told ITV’s Lorraine: “The Prime Minister makes the laws, tells the country to obey the laws, then breaks them and then – in my view – lies to Parliament about it.”
He added: “For millions of people, complying with the rules really, really hurt. This is why it has gone so deep – we’ve all heard of terrible cases of funerals that people couldn’t attend.”
Tory MPs are reserving judgement on the PM until the council election results and the police investigation in partygate are over.
Some MPs, like Scottish party leader Douglas Ross, have also trotted out the line that 'now is not the time' to get rid of the Prime Minister .
But Starmer rejected the “offensive” assertion that Boris Johnson could not be removed while the Ukraine war was raging.
He said: “I don’t really buy into this idea, by the way, that Johnson is the only person of any importance in the Ukraine crisis,” he told ITV’s Lorraine.
Any Tory successor would share similar views on Ukraine and there was support across the party’s for the UK’s position, he said, meaning there was no need to keep Johnson in place.
“He is using that, really, as a shield and I think that’s pretty offensive.”
The Labour leader added: “I understand the argument that the Conservative Party is making, which is ‘we are not going to bring him down, we are prepared to go out and parrot his ridiculous defences’”.
Starmer added: “I think for the public it is different, I think people still talk about this, they really hurt about it.
“I think any Conservative MP that thinks this is just going to go away is making a huge mistake.”
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