Boris Johnson has insisted he is “honest” — despite admitting he “inadvertently” gave false statements in parliament over the partygate row.
The prime minister was taken to task over his record of honesty by Good Morning Britain host Susanna Reid.
She last interviewed Johnson since on the show five years ago when he was foreign secretary.
Johnson has boycotted the programme since he famously hid in a fridge during the 2019 general election campaign to avoid a grilling from former host Piers Morgan in the studio.
Reid kicked off the testy interview by asking Johnson: “People want to know, are you honest, prime minister?
He replied: “Yes. I think the best way to judge that is to look at what this government says it’s going to do and what it does.”
Reid then asked: “You’re an honest speaker?”
“Yes,” Johnson replied.
“I do my best to represent faithfully and accurately what I believe, and sometimes it’s controversial and sometimes it offends people, but that’s what I do.”
Last month Johnson was subject to a successful vote in parliament calling for an urgent investigation into claims he misled MPs about parties hosted in Downing Street during the pandemic.
The prime minister repeatedly told the Commons that no rules were broken and that guidance was followed at all times as the partygate scandal began to break at the end of last year.
Johnson was then slapped with a fine from the Metropolitan Police last month for attending a birthday party hosted for him in the Cabinet room in No.10 on June 19, 2020, when gathering indoors between more than two people was banned.
The fine led to more calls for the PM to resign and raised questions over the credibility of his answers to MPs.
Later in the interview Reid asked Johnson about the reputation he had garnered for lying.
“Sometimes people say you lie, prime minister,” she asked.
Johnson hit back: “If you’re talking about the statements I made in the House of Commons, I was inadvertently, I was wrong, and I’ve apologised for that.”
While the Met has said it will not issue any further fines during the local elections, Tory MPs remain nervous that the scandal will cast a shadow on Thursday 5 May, when voters elect or re-elect their councillors.
Some estimates suggest the party could lose between 500 and 800 seats. A particularly bad result could prompt Tory MPs disaffected with Johnson to submit a letter of no confidence in Johnson, with 54 needed to trigger a vote on his leadership.