took place on my watch. not so, says borisjohnson, who insists his apology to the house who insists his apology to the house of commons for unwittingly breaking the law meant he d complied with the code. and ministers agree. the vast majority of viewers want us focused on the job and the priorities that they care about. and that s why i m saying, look, these were significant issues, but we ve had a whole range of accountability and transparency around it. very happy to answer the questions on lord geidt. i don t think this ends in a leadership challenge. borisjohnson is putting all this down to a misunderstanding, blaming poor communication. but it s clear lord geidt was unimpressed with the prime minister s failure, as he saw it, to explain himself and how getting a fixed penalty notice meant he was still complying with the ministerial code and the overarching duty ministers have to abide by the law. the row seems to be settled for now, but it s come at a tricky time for borisjohnson,
the prime minister and his independent standards adviser, lord geidt. the two have clashed over borisjohnson s handling of parties that broke lockdown laws. after the prime minister was fined for this gathering in the cabinet room on his birthday two years ago, there was a legitimate question, lord geidt claimed, about whether he d broken the ministerial code. i take full responsibility for everything that took place on my watch. not so, says borisjohnson, who insists his apology to the house of commons for unwittingly breaking the law meant he d complied with the code. and ministers agree. the vast majority of viewers want us focused on the job and the priorities that they care about. and that s why i m saying, look, these were significant issues, but we ve had a whole range of accountability and transparency around it. very happy to answer the questions on lord geidt. i don t think this ends in a leadership challenge. borisjohnson is putting all this down to a misunderstanding,
the prime minister and his independent standards adviser, lord geidt. the two have clashed over borisjohnson s handling of parties that broke lockdown laws. after the prime minister was fined for this gathering in the cabinet room on his birthday two years ago, there was a legitimate question, lord geidt claimed, about whether he d broken the ministerial code. i take full responsibility for everything that took place on my watch. not so, says borisjohnson, who insists his apology to the house of commons for unwittingly breaking the law meant he d complied with the code. and ministers agree. the vast majority of viewers want us focused on the job and the priorities that they care about. and that s why i m saying, look, these were significant issues, but we ve had a whole range of accountability and transparency around it. very happy to answer the questions on lord geidt. i don t think this ends in a leadership challenge. borisjohnson is putting all this down to a misunderstanding, blami
government for you this morning. borisjohnson is facing mounting pressure after his own ethics adviser said he still has legitimate questions to answer over his conduct during lockdown. lord geidt said the prime minister needed to explain whether he had breached the ministerial code of conduct after being fined for holding parties in lockdown. we re joined now by our political correspondentjonathan blake. good morning. how uncomfortable is this moment for the prime minister? morning. another day when the fallout from the partygate saga continues to cause problems for borisjohnson and it is a little humiliating i think to have his independent standards and ethics adviser lord geidt effectively forcing him to put down in writing why he believes he has not broken the ministerial code for being fined by the metropolitan police after he was found to have broken lockdown laws. lord geidt published his annual report last night and in that he said that, as you say, there were legitimate questi
labour mp and chair of the commons select committee, chris bryant, on standardsjoins me now. thank you forjoining us. do you agree with lord geidt first of all that there are legitimate questions about whether the prime minister breached the ministerial code? yes. breached the ministerial code? yes, i think not breached the ministerial code? yes, i think not only breached the ministerial code? ya: i think not only legitimate questions, i think lord geidt is being very measured and calm and civil servants alike in giving advice to the prime minister. lord geidt is a wonderful man and he s been placed in an absolutely invidious and impossible position. i read what he says is basically saying, prime minister, i think you have broken the ministerial code, you know perfectly well that that means, if you do that, you resign. i can t say that because my job means, if you do that, you resign. i can t say that because myjob does not allow me to launch an investigation into you unless you allo