Lord Frost says ‘no way back’ for Boris Johnson if he misled parliament

‘Future of government needs to be settled in next few days’, says ex-Brexit minister

Former Brexit minister Lord Frost (Peter Byrne/PA) (PA Wire)

Boris Johnson’s former Brexit minister David Frost has said there will be “no way back” for the prime minister if he is found to misled parliament about Downing Street parties.

The PM’s former ally – who dramatically quit as Brexit negotiator at the end of last year – suggested Conservative MPs should decide Mr Johnson’s future on the basis of the Sue Gray report.

Writing before the Metropolitan Police’s bombshell statement requesting that Ms Gray make “minimal reference” to gatherings which officers are already investigating, Lord Frost said “matters need to be brought to a head”.

“Sue Gray’s report must be published and judgments must be made,” the Tory peer wrote in his latest column for The Sun. “Her report may provide evidence to condemn the prime minister.”

Asking MPs to weigh up the report “seriously”, the Tory peer added: “If they conclude the PM has misled parliament, then I am afraid there will be no way back.”

Lord Frost also said there had been “too much chaos”, adding: “The future of Boris Johnson’s government needs to be settled in the next few days.”

The former cabinet minister remarks go further than his tweets on Thursday, in which he called for a clear-out of staff and a complete change in direction at No 10.

Highlighting a column in The Telegraph, Lord Frost said he agreed “the neo-socialists, green fanatics and pro-woke crowd” should be “exiting immediately”.

The Tory peer also suggested that the government should “get back” on the track of delivering post-Brexit changes, whoever is prime minister.

“Some say: ‘If Boris goes, Brexit goes.” I strongly disagree. We are not going back into the EU. But it is true that some still want us to run the country just as if we were a member of the EU,” he wrote in his latest column.

“Whatever the future holds, we must resist that. If we go down that road, we will not get the benefits of doing things differently and Brexit will fail. Brexit was about change … We need to get back on that track.”

Scotland Yard has asked for the Whitehall inquiry into allegations of lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street to make only “minimal reference” to the events being investigated by police.

The Liberal Democrats have warned that any appearance of an “establishment stitch-up” between government and police to cover up wrong-doing would be “profoundly damaging”.

And Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called for the Gray report to be published in full as soon as possible, warning the government had been thrown into “paralysis” by continuing uncertainty.

Downing Street has denied any role in the Met police’s dramatic decision.