Boris Johnson risks code of conduct breach after misleading MPs in NHS pay row

Prime minister resisting calls to correct parliamentary record

Boris Johnson is resisting calls to correct a false claim after misleading MPs about Labour’s record on NHS pay, in a possible breach of his own ministerial code of conduct.

At Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons, Mr Johnson twice accused Labour of voting against an NHS funding document containing proposals for a 2.1 per cent pay rise for NHS staff.

But the issue did not in fact go to a vote, but was passed “on the nod” with Labour offering no formal opposition.

It is the third time in as many weeks that Mr Johnson has been accused of misleading the Commons, after he wrongly said there were no cuts to a northern transport body and wrongly suggested all outstanding Covid contracts had been published.

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, immediately seized on the PM’s comment and called for Mr Johnson to correct it.

And he later accused the PM of “lying” to MPs, adding: “Labour did not vote against the 2.1 per cent uplift for NHS pay. Boris Johnson is now breaking his promise to NHS staff and cutting their pay in real terms. He should now have the courage to put his nurses pay cut to a vote.”

The ministerial code of conduct states that it is “of paramount importance that ministers give accurate and truthful information to parliament, correcting any inadvertent error at the earliest opportunity”.

Ministers who knowingly mislead parliament “will be expected to offer their resignation to the prime minister”, the code states.

But Downing Street made clear that Mr Johnson is not planning either to apologise or to return to the Commons to correct his false statement.

In a media briefing following PMQs, the PM’s press secretary Allegra Stratton did not contest Mr Ashworth’s position that Mr Johnson’s statement to MPs was incorrect.

But she ducked a question on whether the PM himself accepted that his claim was wrong.

And she insisted that the matter had been settled by Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, who accepted Mr Ashworth’s objection as “a point of clarification”.

There is no reference in the ministerial code of any role for the speaker in correcting a misleading statement made to MPs by a member of the government.

The row came on the day when Mr Johnson’s former standards adviser called for Downing Street’s systems to be changed so the prime minister is no longer the only person who can order an investigation of alleged breaches of the ministerial code.

Sir Alex Allan – who quit last year after Mr Johnson rejected his finding that Priti Patel bullied staff – said that giving the independent standards adviser the power to initiate investigations would remove the “anomaly” of a PM deciding whether there should be an inquiry into his own conduct.

If the PM refuses to correct the record, it would stand in stark contrast to Sir Keir Starmer’s action last month when he issued a prompt apology after giving an incorrect response during PMQs.

Asked why Mr Johnson was not following the Labour leader’s example, Ms Stratton said: “Within minutes in this instance, this issue was raised in the proper place, which is the House of Commons chamber.

“The speaker listened to the shadow health secretary and accepted a point of clarification, and he regarded the matter as having been dealt with.”

The PM’s press secretary dodged a question on whether Mr Johnson now accepted that his comments to MPs were inaccurate, instead replying: “The matter was dealt with incredibly swiftly. The shadow health secretary was on his feet without a pause or breath after PMQs was wound up, and the issue was dealt with immediately by the House of Commons speaker, who regarded a point of clarification as having been made and the matter as having been dealt with.”