Boris Johnson has been accused of a “desperate” attempt to hide from the fallout of the Sue Gray report by flying to Ukraine.
The prime minister is visiting Kyiv for crisis talks with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky amid Western warnings the Russians are set to invade.
The pair are due to hold a press conference later on Tuesday afternoon.
Layla Moran, the Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesperson, criticised the timing of the trip.
“His beeline for Kiev today smacks of a desperate attempt to duck and dive from the aftermath of the Sue Gray report,” she said.
“The prime minister can’t handle the heat from the mess of his own making.”
Johnson had planned to speak with Vladimir Putin on Monday, but cancelled the phone call so he could be grilled by MPs in parliament over the partygate row.
The Kremlin said the call would not be rearranged to allow Johnson and Putin to speak before the prime minister arrives in Ukraine. The two leaders are expected to speak on Wednesday.
Dominic Raab, the deputy prime minister, defended Johnson’s decision to cancel the call.
“Any prime minister, any president – it happens all the time – their diaries and their call sheets dart around the place because they are balancing things,” he said.
But David Lammy, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, said the pressure on Johnson from Tory MPs over lockdown breaching parties in Downing Street was distracting him from important foreign policy concerns.
“The situation in Ukraine is immensely serious. We want diplomacy to succeed,” he said.
“This crisis requires the attention of a focused prime minister, but the PM is playing catch up and the government is in disarray.
“Yesterday he missed a call with Putin because he was in Parliament defending the indefensible.”
Downing Street said Johnson was playing an “active role” in the crisis and was “spearheading” the international response.
Johnson had been due to be accompanied on the visit by foreign secretary Liz Truss, but she is isolating at home having tested positive for Covid.