Boris Johnson has insisted that he is an “honest” person who does his best to tell the truth, despite admitting he was “inadvertently” wrong to say all Covid rules had been followed in Downing Street.
The prime minister also said he had “no idea” whether he would receive more fines from the Metropolitan Police over rule-breaking government parties in the weeks ahead.
Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Mr Johnson said the best way to judge his honesty is to “look at what this government says it’s going to do and what it does”.
Are if he was honest, Mr Johnson said: “Yes. I do my best to represent faithfully and accurately what I believe. Sometimes it’s controversial and sometimes it offends people but that’s what I do.”
When host Susanna Reid referred to the importance of honesty and telling the truth, Mr Johnson said: “It matters very much to me.”
He added: “If you’re talking about the statements I made to the House of Commons, I was inadvertently wrong, and I’ve apologised for that … I’ve apologised for the things we got wrong during the pandemic, and I repeat those apologises.”
Mr Johnson is facing an investigation over misleading parliament over Partygate after he told the Commons that no laws were broken in Downing Street.
This comes despite ongoing calls for his resignation from opposition MPs as well as some of his own backbenches after police handed him a fixed penalty notice (FPN) for attending a celebration for his birthday in No 10.
Mr Johnson then insisted that any news of a further FPN will “not remain secret”, but pleaded for the public to wait until the police investigation and top civil servant Sue Gray has offered her full report on the scandal.
He added: “I will make sure that as soon as I’m able to say something on the conclusion of the investigation, you will have a lot more on it.”
Asked why he should not resign, as Matt Hancock did as health secretary and Allegra Stratton did as press secretary, the PM said: “I’m getting on with the job that I was elected to do … and I’m proud of what we have been doing.”
The PM also admitted the UK could have reacted faster in helping Ukrainian refugees, but said “large numbers” of those fleeing the war are now coming to Britain.
“So far 86,000 visas have been issued and 27,000 are already here and I want to say ‘Thank you’ – 27,000 is a lot and it’s growing fast and I want to pay tribute to all those who are helping to look after Ukrainians. Could we have done it faster? Yes, perhaps we could.”
Mr Johnson also asked GMB host “Who’s Lorraine?” as he appeared on the programme for the first time in nearly five years.
“Who’s Lorraine? Lorraine is a legend!” Ms Reid fired back on her colleague Lorraine Kelly.
Mr Johnson appeared to have misunderstood the situation, thinking he was being passed over to Ms Kelly for another interview. “Fantastic, well I didn’t think I was talking to Lorraine, OK…” he muttered.
When the daytime “legend” appeared on the screen, she simply said: “Wow. Thank you, Susanna. A masterclass in a political interview.”
