Boris Johnson cannot be written off “until he is buried at a crossroads with a stake driven through his heart”, his former boss has said.
Max Hastings, who edited the Daily Telegraph in the 1980s when Mr Johnson was the paper’s Brussels correspondent, added that the former prime minister was a blight not only on the Tories, but “on the British body politic”.
His comments came just hours after Mr Johnson desperately fought to cling on to his political future as he faced questions from the Privileges Committee about Downing Street gatherings during lockdown.
In an at times ill-tempered affair, Mr Johnson said there was not a “shred of evidence” to show he lied to MPs and that it would have been “utterly insane” for him to have misled Parliament over the Partygate furore.
Speaking on LBC’s Tonight with Andrew Marr on Wednesday, Mr Hastings said: “I don’t think you can write off Boris Johnson until he is buried at a crossroads with a stake driven through his heart.
“But on the other hand, I think that he is a blight on not only on the Conservative Party, but on the British body politic.
“The question is whether the Conservative Party have the courage to move on, have the courage to say this man has done terrible things to our country.
“He’s done terrible things to our party. This must come to an end. Now, I’m not sure that they have the guts to do that. But this is what we’re going to find out in the hours and days ahead.”
Mr Johnson indicated he could refuse to accept the inquiry’s verdict if it finds he committed a contempt of parliament by deliberately misleading the Commons of Partygate, saying he would “wait to see”.
If the verdict goes against Mr Johnson, one possible punishment could be a 10-day suspension, which if voted through by MPs, would trigger a by-election in his seat.
Arch-loyalist Jacob Rees-Mogg said Mr Johnson won public support with his defences despite them being met with exasperation by multiple members of the cross-party panel of MPs grilling him.
The Tory MP told Channel 4 News: “I think that if Boris Johnson went to a by-election he would win it comfortably. Because I think he’s winning in the court of public opinion, who see this as a kangaroo court.”
However, a newly-released poll from YouGov, showed that 72 per cent of Britons think Mr Johnson is dishonest.
