While some members of the cabinet have been conspicuous by their absence when it comes to defending Boris Johnson against spiralling allegations, he is not without a praetorian guard of allies gamely trying to bat for him on the airwaves, social media and elsewhere.
As the Conservative leader faces continuing calls for his resignation from his own benches and the opposition, and is now confronted with a police investigation into alleged lockdown parties at No 10, here are some of those defenders (to varying degrees):
The solid defenders
Nadine Dorries
The pugilistic culture secretary posted on Twitter in characteristic style after it emerged that a birthday party had been thrown for Johnson in the middle of the first lockdown, wondering aloud if what transpired could be “called a party”. The response was seen as a riposte to senior Tories who had called for Johnson’s head after the latest revelations on ITV News.
In an appearance on Channel 4 News on 13 January, she tried to claim that Rishi Sunak had been slow to back Johnson when the latter faced a grilling at prime minister’s questions because of what she claimed was the poor wifi signal in Ilfracombe, Devon, which the chancellor was visiting that day.
So, when people in an office buy a cake in the middle of the afternoon for someone else they are working in the office with and stop for ten minutes to sing happy birthday and then go back to their desks, this is now called a party?
— Nadine Dorries (@NadineDorries) January 24, 2022
Jacob Rees-Mogg
Attempting to defend Johnson in a BBC Newsnight interview earlier this month, Rees-Mogg exacerbated the damage to Tory party unity when he described Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives and a flag-carrier for the rebellion, as “a lightweight figure”.
When news broke on Tuesday morning that the Metropolitan police had initiated a formal investigation into “partygate”, Rees-Mogg immediately placed himself in front of camera crews outside of No 10 after the cabinet held its weekly meeting.
“The leadership of this country that Boris Johnson has had, has been so brilliant that he has got us through this incredibly difficult period,” he said.
Nadhim Zahawi
The education secretary was front and centre during media interviews on Monday as the government and Tory party responded to allegations by the former Conservative minister Nusrat Ghani that she was sacked for being Muslim.
“The important thing to remember, in my view, is that this is a prime minister who doesn’t, you know, look at your background, your religion or anything else. He looks at your ability,” Sky News was told by Zahawi, who was picked by Johnson in late 2020 to be the vaccines minister and then promoted in September to be education secretary.
Dominic Raab
The deputy prime minister and justice secretary was an assertive early defender of Johnson last month when the first details of potential lockdown breaches at Downing Street emerged.
Those in attendance at a gathering in the garden at 10 Downing Street with wine and cheese in May 2020 were “predominantly in formal attire”, said the former lawyer.
On Sunday, Raab refused to confirm that the Sue Gray report on alleged Downing Street parties would be published in full, saying the amount of detail released publicly would be a matter for Johnson.
… and the tepid defenders
Grant Shapps
A central figure in the prime minister’s fightback, if reports that Johnson wanted to “get the old gang back” by assembling those who played a role in his leadership campaign are anything to go by.
Shapps is said to have dusted off the spreadsheet used in that campaign to try to map out the degrees of hostility and sympathy among MPs, allowing Johnson to attempt to rally support. But a response by Shapps that he was “not seeking to defend” the latest allegations in a BBC Radio 4 Today programme interview on Tuesday left some wondering if he really was Johnson’s ‘most loyal lieutenant’.
Liz Truss
Though tipped as a frontrunner in the event of a Tory leadership contest, the foreign secretary has been visibly more supporting of her boss than her rival Sunak.
Conor Burns
While not a member of the cabinet, the Northern Ireland minister used a slightly more unusual turn of phrase to defend the prime minister in an interview with Channel 4 News on Tuesday.
“It was not a premeditated, organised party,” he said to the presenter Cathy Newman. “He was, in a sense, ambushed with a cake.”
"He was ambushed with a cake."
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) January 25, 2022
A Conservative MP says that a birthday celebration held in Downing Street for Boris Johnson wasn't a "premeditated party".
Conor Burns tells @cathynewman that he supports Boris Johnson and that "the public will ultimately judge". pic.twitter.com/EGy0lcxXLA
