‘I wouldn’t p*** on you if you were on fire’: Junior ministers turn on Boris Johnson over Partygate

The revolt against Boris Johnson appears to have spread to junior ministers today amid signs that the Partygate row means that even they could turn on him.

The Prime Minister and his No10 team were slammed in a private meeting by a number of political private secretaries, the lowest rung on the ministerial ladder.

One, Paul Holmes, is said to have told Dan Rosenfield, the PM’s private secretaries that ‘heads must roll’ amid the chaos engulfing the Government.

Jane Hunt, an aide to Cabinet Office Minister Steve Barclay, is alleged by the Sunday Times to have told him: ‘I wouldn’t p*** on you if you were on fire.’

The comments suggested Mr Johnson could not reply on MPs on the Government payroll backing him if backbenchers trigger a confidence vote. 

Former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown also emerged to pour fuel on the fire this morning.

Speaking to Sky News he warned that Mr Johnson’s Government will likely end in scandal, former prime minister Gordon Brown has said.

Speaking on Trevor Phillips On Sunday, Mr Brown said: ‘We don’t just have the scandal – and all the details will probably come out later this week about partying – we have the conflicts of interest, we have the dubious appointments, we have foreign money and question marks over that, who is paying the bills for what?

‘And I don’t think we are going to see this administration end in anything other than scandal.’  

One, Paul Holmes, is said to have told Dan Rosenfield, the PM’s private secretaries that ‘heads must roll’, while Jane Hunt, an aide to Cabinet Office Minister Steve Barclay, is alleged by the Sunday Times to have told him: ‘I wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire.’

It came as the Tory civil war broke out into fresh conflict over alleged islamophobia today after a former minister claimed she was told she was being fired by Boris Johnson because of her ‘Muslimness’.

Nusrat Ghani, 49, alleges she was told by a party whip she was being axed as a transport minister in February 2020 because her status as a Muslim woman and a minister was ‘making colleagues feel uncomfortable’.

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab has said Tory MPs are rallying behind Boris Johnson ahead of the expected publication this week of the report into Downing Street parties during lockdown.

‘There is a rallying of support behind the Prime Minister, you could feel it in the chamber,’ Mr Raab told the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme.

‘I think the reason is the booster campaign has been so successful, we are coming out of the lockdown measures, we are opening up the economy. These are all because of the calls the Prime Minister has made.’

Mr Raab refused to be drawn of whether the findings of Sue Gray, the senior civil servant investigating the reports of lockdown breaches in Whitehall, would be published in full, although he insisted there would be ‘full transparency’.

‘The process for it will be for the Prime Minister to decide,’ he said. 

He reaffirmed that Boris Johnson would have to resign if he was found to have misled Parliament over what he knew and when about a series of illicit parties in Dowenign Street.

‘The code of conduct for ministers is very clear that if you mislead Parliament it is a resigning matter,’ the Deputy Prime Minister said.

He also appeared to suggest publication of the Gray report could take slightly longer than expected.

‘If it takes a day or too longer – absolutely right. Sue Gray should determine that,’ he said.

Mr Brown added that ‘attention has veered’ away from other important issues like the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, the rising cost of living in the UK, and Russia’s aggression against Ukraine because of the Downing Street parties.