Boris Johnson has accused Rishi Sunak of “talking rubbish” as the bitter war of words between the two men escalated.
The prime minister has said Johnson wanted him to “overrule” the House of Lords Appointments Commission (Holac) to ensure his allies were given peerages.
“Boris Johnson asked me to do something that I wasn’t prepared to do, because I didn’t think it was right,” Sunak said on Monday morning.
“That was to either overrule the Holac committee or to make promises for people.
“Now, I wasn’t prepared to do that. I didn’t think it was right and if people don’t like that, then tough.”
But in a statement this afternoon, Johnson hit back: “Rishi Sunak is talking rubbish.
“To honour these peerages it was not necessary to overrule Holac – but simply to ask them to renew their vetting, which was a mere formality.”
Johnson had wanted Tory MPs Nadine Dorries, Nigel Adams and Alok Sharma to be given seats in the Lords as part of his resignation honours list.
But when the list was revealed on Friday, they were not included. Dorries and Adams have both resigned as MPs in response.
Holac has said it did not approve eight people nominated by Johnson, but did not specific which names.
Downing Street said earlier it was “entirely untrue” to suggest Sunak or anyone in No.10 sought “remove or change or alter” the list of peerages approved by Holac.
Johnson dramatically quit as an MP on Friday ahead of an expected announcement he had been found guilty of lying to parliament over partygate.
The Commons privileges committee was expected to recommend a lengthy suspension, which could have triggered a by-election in Johnson’s seat.
The resignations now mean Sunak faces three tough by-elections, potentially on the same day within weeks.