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Good morning. Boris Johnson has PMQs today for the last time before the Easter recess and, amid questions about Ukraine and the cost of living, he is bound to be asked why he repeatedly told MPs the Covid rules were always followed in Downing Street when the police have now ruled that the law was broken. The opposition has accused Johnson of lying, and by and large the public agrees. Yesterday Downing Street refused to accept that Johnson had lied to parliament – but the PM’s spokesperson also refused to say that Johnson now accepts that the law was broken, suggesting that the denial strategy is still operative at No 10.
Dominic Raab, the deputy PM and justice secretary, has been giving interviews this morning, and he claimed that Johnson was telling the truth to parliament “to the best of his ability”. He told Sky News:
I don’t know the full facts of the fixed penalty notices, but the prime minister was telling the House of Commons and the public what he knew to the best of his ability.
No, I don’t think there was an intention to mislead. The prime minister in good faith updated parliament on what he knows.
