Boris Johnson has claimed that he regrets apologising for the partygate scandal which rocked the country at the height of the pandemic.
While discussing his new memoir Unleashed, ITV News’ Tom Bradby asked the former PM: “You basically say, ‘It wasn’t a big deal. I regret apologising.’ Is that really your position?”
Johnson claimed in his new book that he thought apologising was a “mistake” which “made it look as though we were far more culpable than we were”.
But, in the interview, the former PM immediately replied to Bradby by saying “no, no, no”.
The journalist persisted though, and asked: “Did you regret apologising to the Queen?”
Johnson said sorry to the late monarch after it was revealed parties were held on Downing Street the evening before Prince Philip’s funeral in 2021.
Johnson did not answer, only saying: “I don’t discuss my conversations with the Queen.”
After further questioning, he claimed: “What I was trying to say there was, I think that the blanket apology – the sort of apology I issued right at the beginning – I think the trouble with it was that afterwards, all the accusations that then rained down on officials who’d been working very hard in Number 10 and elsewhere were thought to be true.
“And by apologising I had sort of inadvertently validated the entire corpus and it wasn’t fair on those people.”
The former prime minister faced intense and prolonged public backlash in 2021 after it emerged he, along with some staff, had breached the government’s own lockdown measures at the height of Covid to hold gatherings in Downing Street.
After a police probe, Johnson had to pay a £50 fine for breaking the law. He apologised at the time but told parliament he did not knowingly break any rules.
The privileges committee later concluded the PM had deliberately misled parliament over those parties in a damning report which led Johnson to resign as an MP.
The former PM also told ITV News he was surprised by David Cameron’s decision to resign after the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016 (Cameron had campaigned on Remain).
He said :“It’s not normal for the prime minister having asked for a referendum vote suddenly to evacuate the stage.”
Johnson was expected to have an interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, but it was pulled earlier this week after the journalist admitted she had accidentally emailed him her briefing notes in advance.