Boris Johnson must change the “culture” of Downing Street after a series of allegations that staff partied during Covid lockdown restrictions, has foreign secretary Liz Truss said.
The foreign secretary she was “100 per cent” behind Boris Johnson and wanted him to continue in the job, as she batted away questions about her own leadership ambitions.
“There are clearly concerning reports, and there clearly needs to be a change in culture,” said Ms Truss on BBC Breakfast ahead of the imminent release of civil servant Sue Gray’s report into social gatherings.
“We need to get the results of the report, we need to look at the results and fix the issues there are,” she said, urging MPs and others to avoid “speculation”.
Asked if she was interested in replacing him, Ms Truss told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I want the prime minister to continue in his job, he’s doing a great job.”
The foreign secretary said: “I absolutely take the prime minister at his word.” Asked if she would support him “come what may”, she added: “Absolutely.”
The release of Ms Gray’s investigation into gatherings at No 10 and Whitehall departments was “fairly imminent”, Ms Truss said on Wednesday morning – confirming the prime minister was yet to receive it from the Cabinet Office.
But Ms Truss also indicated there could be “security issues” which mean parts of the Gray report are “problematic to publish”.
Asked whether the PM may have to resign if he was found to have misled parliament over events, the senior cabinet minister said Mr Johnson had already apologised for attending drinks gathering at No 10.
And in an apparent dig at chancellor Rishi Sunak – who had skipped Ms Johnson’s apology in the Commons – she added: “I was with him in the Commons chamber when he did that.”
Fellow cabinet minister Jacob-Rees Mogg has claimed there would have to be a general election if Mr Johnson was ousted by his party. But Ms Truss dismissed the idea as “complete hypothetical speculation”.
The minister said she did not attend any alleged rule-breaking parties in Downing Street, nor was she invited. Asked on Sky News: “Did you go to any parties?”, she said: “I didn’t.” And to the question: “Were you ever invited?”, she said: “No.”
It comes as junior minister Conor Burns sought to defend the PM by arguing that he had been “ambushed with a cake” during his No 10 birthday gathering held during lockdown restrictions.
Labour MPs Chris Bryant has warned that Mr Johnson could attempt “jiggery-pokery” by publishing Ms Gray’s report just before PMQs to avoid being questioned on its findings.
The chairman of the Committee on Standards of Public life said the PM was likely intending to “manipulate parliament” once the report by the senior civil servant is handed over to No10.
Mr Bryant also told the Today programme that people have built up “very high expectations” about the report and are wrongly interpreting it as a “quasi-judicial” process – reminding the public that Ms Gray is “reporting to her boss”.
Meanwhile, Ms Truss said Britain is not ruling out sanctions targeted at president Vladimir Putin in person if Russia invades Ukraine. Asked about possible sanctions on Mr Putin, Ms Truss told Sky: “We’re not ruling anything out.”
She also LBC that Britain was “ready to go on sanctions” and would legislate for more severe sanctions against Moscow. “We’re coordinating with our allies, but of course we need to make sure everybody is ready to put those sanctions in place.”
Asked why she had been photographed in a tank during a recent trip to visit British troops in Estonia, Ms Truss said she had been “showing our strong support from freedom and democracy”.
