The Education Secretary said he did not recognise reports surrounding a bid to survive the “partygate” storm.
Reportedly dubbed “Operation: Save Big Dog”, it has been suggested Boris Johnson could overhaul his top team, with the likes of his principal private secretary Martin Reynolds, who sent an email inviting staff to enjoy the good weather in the No 10 garden in May 2020, being shown the door as part of a move to protect the PM.
But Nadhim Zahawi told BBC Breakfast: “Honestly, I don’t recognise that at all.”
He added: “Government doesn’t operate like that. If you look at the work I’m doing in the Department of Education on levelling up, on making sure that every child gets a really high level of education consistently in every corner of our country, the work that Michael Gove was doing on the Levelling Up White Paper (on) which I’m working closely with him because the most important capital’s the human capital, the most valuable resource is the human resource.
“All that work, whether it be what Priti Patel is doing on her Nationality And Borders Bill to prepare to deal with the criminal element that is putting people’s lives at risk on those little boats.”
Asked why he had listed all the policies reportedly to be used as part of the bid to save the PM, he said: “They’re on the list because these are the Government’s manifesto.”
Mr Zahawi said it was not true that Boris Johnson had known about a party held at Downing Street on May 20, 2020.
He told Sky News: “It’s not true that the Prime Minister knew about this. He implicitly thought this was a work event.”
He said senior official Sue Gray must be allowed to carry out her inquiry into reports of coronavirus restriction-breaching events in Westminster, and he said the Prime Minister had “submitted himself to that investigation”.
Mr Zahawi said he shared the anger of the public over the issue, adding: “I can absolutely say to you that the Prime Minister feels the pain.”
He said: “All I would say is we have to allow the investigation to take place. Why? Because that’s the fair thing to do – you don’t condemn a man without a thorough investigation.”
Mr Zahawi said Boris Johnson “is focused on dealing with the big issues”.
The Education Secretary told Times Radio: “If you think again about the big calls, whether it’s Brexit, the vaccine programme which the Prime Minister very much focused on and I led the deployment, and of course the call on Omicron pre-Christmas… on the big decisions, he’s made the right call.
“Of course, we’re all human, we make mistakes. And when he made a mistake, he came to Parliament and apologised for it.”
Mr Zahawi said he would have acted differently and told staff to “get back to your desk” if he had discovered a party.
Mr Zahawi said he hoped Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer “finds (it) within himself to apologise” after a photograph emerged of him drinking with a number of party staff in a constituency office last year.
Sir Keir has said there was “no breach of the rules” and there was “no comparison” with the Prime Minister.
But the Education Secretary told BBC Breakfast: “I think people expect, you know, very high standards from their leaders, and I think that’s only right.”
