Boris Johnson slams Sir John Major’s ‘demonstrably untrue’ Partygate criticism

The prime minister has slammed Sir John Major’s claims the ‘Partygate’ scandal has “shredded” Britain’s international reputation.

“I think that is demonstrably untrue,” Boris Johnson told journalists in Warsaw this afternoon.

The former Conservative prime minister whose tenure ended when Labour achieved a landslide victory in the 1997 general election, told a an Institute for Government panel earlier today that political conduct in Britain was “shredding” its perception on the world stage.

He also argued that the current prime minister and No 10 officials violated lockdown guidelines and misled voters with “brazen excuses” and “unbelievable” claims, but fell short of urging his resignation, unless he has deliberately misled Parliament.

“I’m going to have plenty to say about all that in due course,” Johnson remarked following the widely reported remarks, adding:” But if you look at what the UK is doing to bring the world together, if you talk to our friends in Lithuania or Ukraine or in Poland, it is the United Kingdom that has been working for months to warn people about what is happening.”