We’ve reached the moment when many Tories will no longer defend Boris Johnson

Parliament’s whole purpose of holding the government to account rests on ministers telling the truth, writes Andrew Grice

The opinion polls suggest people have made up their minds on Partygate (PA Wire)

“Politics has taught me one thing,” Boris Johnson said during his visit to India, “which is you’re better off talking and focusing on the things that matter, the things that make a real difference to the electorate and not about politicians themselves.” He also said investigations into Partygate should not “go on and on and on”.

Thankfully, MPs drew a different lesson from the controversy, which eclipsed the prime minister’s visit. They realised they did need to talk about themselves – or, at least, the PM’s conduct – and rightly insisted on a Commons inquiry into whether Johnson misled parliament over Downing Street parties during lockdown.

Johnson might be dragging down the reputation of his party and cabinet ministers who must defend him. But many Tories – including some junior ministers and parliamentary aides who threatened to resign if an inquiry were delayed – realised parliament would have no credibility with the public if it ignored his repeated, misleading statements about the parties. They were also worried about their own reputations. For them, the government’s initial attempt to stall an investigation by the privileges committee had uncomfortable echoes of the Owen Paterson fiasco which sparked Johnson’s decline. (Does he ever learn from his mistakes?)