Holyrood call for Boris Johnson to quit puts Tory MSPs on the spot

It criticises his "direct involvement" in some of the gatherings and "expresses dismay that one of these parties was held the night before the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral necessitating a direct apology from Number 10 to Her Majesty the Queen".

The motion also says political leaders have a duty to follow the same rules they impose on the public.

Mr Ross last week became one of the first Tory MPs to call publicly for Mr Johnson to go after he admitted being at an event in the Number 10 garden on May 20, 2020.

The PM said he “implicitly believed” it had been a work event, despite his private secretary inviting 100 people to bring their own booze and enjoy the good weather.

After Mr Ross’s intervention, it was reported that at least two dozen of his 31-strong MSP group also wanted Mr Johnson to resign, but this has not yet been confirmed in public.

Mr Cole-Hamilton’s motion is intended to draw out dissent by inviting all MSPs to sign it.

In theory, if the motion attracted sufficient cross-party support, it could also force a vote in the parliament, although that is considered unlikely at this stage. 

The motion coincides with fresh claims that Mr Johnson misled Westminster about his knowledge of the May 20 event, with his former aide Dominic Cummings insisting the PM was warned it would be a rule-breaking party, but let it go ahead and attended regardless.

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab today rejected Mr Cummings’ account as "nonsense", but said a Prime Minister who deliberately misled parliament would only “normally” be expected to resign.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said: "While new mothers gave birth alone and families said goodbye to their loved ones on Zoom, the Prime Minister and his staff were living it up. 

"Boris Johnson isn't sorry that he and his staff repeatedly broke the rules. He is just sad that he got caught.

"The idea that these parties were going on under the noses of Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak and they weren't aware of it is absolutely farcical. I'm insulted that he thinks the public are so stupid. 

"It's time for him to resign as Prime Minister and minister for the union and allow someone else to take over.

"I hope that the Scottish Parliament can speak in one voice in calling for the Prime Minister to go." 

Mr Cummings yesterday said he was willing to “swear under oath” that Mr Johnson had lied about the May 20 event, and knew in advance it was a “drinks party”.

The PM last week told MPs he spent 25 minutes at the gathering but insisted he thought it was a work event.

Mr Raab told Times Radio: “The suggestion that he lied is nonsense. He’s made it very clear to the House of Commons that questions on this… that he thought it was a work event.”

Pressed on BBC Radio 4 about what would be expected if Mr Johnson had lied to the Commons, the Cabinet minister said: “If it’s lying, deliberate in the way you describe, if it’s not corrected immediately, it would normally under the ministerial code and the governance around Parliament be a resigning matter."

On Monday, Mr Cummings said he and another senior official warned the Prime Minister’s principal private secretary, Martin Reynolds, that his invitation to around 100 staff was against coronavirus rules.

“I said to the PM something like: ‘Martin’s invited the building to a drinks party, this is what I’m talking about, you’ve got to grip this madhouse’. The PM waved it aside,” Mr Cummings wrote on his blog.

“The events of May 20 alone, never mind the string of other events, mean the PM lied to Parliament about parties.

“Not only me but other eyewitnesses who discussed this at the time would swear under oath this is what happened.”

A No 10 spokesman insisted Mr Johnson had apologised to the House and that he “believed implicitly” that he had been attending a work event.

“It is untrue that the Prime Minister was warned about the event in advance,” the spokesman said, adding that Mr Johnson would be making a further statement when senior civil servant Sue Gray has completed her inquiry into party allegations.

The latest salvo from Mr Cummings, who left Downing Street in November 2020, is adding to the pressure on Mr Johnson as he faces public calls to resign from six Tory MPs and widespread anger over claims that No 10 staff broke the Covid rules they imposed.

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said Mr Johnson does not need to wait for Ms Gray’s report and called on him to step down now.

She said: “Instead of hiding behind internal inquiries or technicalities, we need the Prime Minister to tell the truth, pure and simple. He must resign.”

After allegations of a Christmas party during restrictions in 2020 first emerged, Mr Johnson told the Commons he had been “repeatedly assured since these allegations emerged that there was no party and that no Covid rules were broken”.

But after an email surfaced of Mr Reynolds inviting colleagues to the May 20 event, the Prime Minister admitted in the Commons last week that he attended to “thank groups of staff”.

“I believed implicitly that this was a work event,” he said, before conceding he “should have sent everyone back inside” but claiming it may “technically” have fallen within the rules.

The text of the Holyrood motion is as follows: “That the Parliament recognises the tremendous sacrifice made by the British public since the start of the Covid19 pandemic, including the cancellation and postponement of significant life events, care home residents going months without family contact and loved ones dying alone in hospital; notes the series of at least 17 allegations and revelations published in the national press about social gatherings and other contraventions of Coronavirus regulations in Number 10 Downing Street and around Whitehall throughout 2020 and 2021; notes the direct involvement of the Prime Minister in several of these gatherings; expresses dismay that one of these parties was held the night before the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral necessitating a direct apology from Number 10 to Her Majesty the Queen; believes that political leaders have a duty to follow the same regulations they impose on the general public; considers that the aforementioned repeated breaches will erode both trust in government and adherence to public health measures and as such calls on Boris Johnson to resign the office of Prime Minister.”