Partygate an issue in 'affluent' areas says GLA minister

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Susan Hall, leader of the Greater London Authority Conservatives has told radio host Rachel Johnson that Partygate only came up as an election issue in “the more affluent areas’ which had “an awful lot of Remainers”. Boris Johnson has faced widespread calls from opposition politicians and some in his own party for him to resign over the “partygate” scandal after it emerged that the Prime Minister and colleagues had broken lockdown rules. 

Ms Hall told LBC: “It is peculiar because we’ve just had the local election and when you campaigned in areas more of the workings are barriers where people don’t have the news on 24/7 etcetera Boris was not mentioned on the doorsteps once, not once.

“It is only when you go to the more affluent areas and by their own ambitions, an awful lot of remainers who actually still blame Boris anyway for the fact that we’ve left the EU.

“That’s where you had comments about these parties.

“So a lot of it is personal to the Prime Minister I think.”

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It comes amid questions in Westminister over a controversial meeting between Boris Johnson and Sue Gray over the senior civil servant’s pivotal partygate report.

Cabinet minister Nadhim Zahawi was repeatedly asked during broadcast interviews if he knew who had arranged the meeting and said he did not know but insisted the Prime Minister would “never intervene in Sue Gray’s investigation”.

The Prime Minister is facing pressure to “urgently explain” why the talks took place, with Labour arguing public confidence in the process had already been “depleted” and people “deserve to know the truth”.

On Sunday, Mr Zahawi repeatedly failed to say who called the meeting between Mr Johnson and Ms Gray, conceding he did not know the answer.

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He insisted the Prime Minister has “never intervened” in the senior civil servant’s investigation and Ms Gray’s integrity is “unquestionable”.

However, he was not able to say who called the meeting or what was discussed.

The Cabinet Minister told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme: “All I can say to you is the meeting that took place between Sue Gray and the Prime Minister – I can’t tell you who called the meeting.”

He later added: “I don’t know who called the meeting.” Asked what was discussed, he also said: “I don’t know.”

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Asked if he could not say who called the meeting because he did not ask No 10, or because it did not tell him, Mr Zahawi said: “(I’ll) tell you what the answer is, the answer is very simple.

“The answer is the Prime Minister will never intervene in Sue Gray’s investigation.

“The Prime Minister wants Sue Gray to basically go wherever the evidence takes her.”

He later told the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme that he had not asked No 10 who called the meeting because he did not deem it necessary.

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