LET'S BO
Rishi Sunak accuses Boris Johnson of trying to bend the rules as he hits back over honours list
RISHI Sunak hit back at Boris Johnson today - accusing him of trying to bend the rules to get his mates in the Lords.
The PM defiantly hit out after a weekend of chaos which saw his predecessor quit the Commons.
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BoJo announced on Friday he would step down as an MP after several of his picks for peerages were rejected by officials.
During a chat last week the former PM urged Mr Sunak to step in to waive them through.
Mr Sunak told the London Tech Week conference this morning: "Boris Johnson asked me to do something I wasn't prepared to do - overrule Holac - I wasn't prepared to do that, and if people don't like that then tough."
His intervention risks extending the row between the two men, who have been at loggerheads over BoJos resignation honours list.
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Cabinet Minister Grant Shapps was previously sent out to publicly reject the allegation from Johnson’s supporters that the PM had removed some names.
One Boris ally said at the weekend of the relationship: "It's war."
MPs including Former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, Alok Sharma, ex-minister Nigel Adams and Alister Jack were expected to be on the peerages list revealed last week, but did not appear.
Both Dorries and Adams quit as MPs, decrying a “stitch up.”
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It has given the PM a huge headache of three by-elections to try and hold onto seats.
Whips are expected to fire the starting gun on the contests as soon as this week to get the elections done before the summer.
On Saturday, Mr Shapps put the boot in — suggesting Boris was yesterday’s man.
Asked whether names had been removed by No10, the Energy Secretary gave a firm “No”.
He told the BBC: “The list that came to the PM was the list that went to the House of Lords Appointments Committee that looks at these things.
“Just to be clear here, it went to that committee.
“The Prime Minister has exactly followed the very long-standing conventions of prime ministers who simply take the list and pass it on and receive it back.”
Asked whether any names had been removed before the list went to the Lords authorities for approval by Mr Sunak or one his close aides, Mr Shapps could only say he was not aware of that to the best of his knowledge.
Downing Street declassified a document over the weekend showing the list of individuals from February approved by the House of Lords vetting panel.
A furious Mr Johnson believes he has been misled by Sunak who did not tell him the sitting MPs he had nominated had been removed when they met recently.
But Mr Shapps goaded: “Occasionally Boris wouldn’t be all over the detail, I don’t know whether that’s what happened in this particular case.”
Eight peerage nominees put forward by Mr Johnson were not approved by the body, with the suggestion the individual MPs would not stand down immediately or within six months.
Ex-Downing Street spin doctor Guto Harri told Sky News the authorities were not happy with the scale of the list and “some of the nominations originally”.
The row means three by-elections will be contested after Johnson, Dorries and Adams all stepped down.
A war of words has re-ignited between the Sunak and Johnson camps following Boris’s dramatic resignation on Friday night.
Mr Johnson — seen jogging with his dog Dilyn near his Oxfordshire home on Saturday — left Parliament after it emerged the Privileges Committee would recommend a suspension of more than ten days.
That would set in motion a by-election in his West London seat.
The panel is expected to publish their findings imminently.
Mr Shapps added “the world has moved on” from the BoJo era.
He said: “I think people around the country, inside and outside the Party, recognise that Boris was somebody with many qualities.
“But we are now in a world where there are different challenges to face and we’ve got new management in No10 getting on with the job and getting on with the priorities of this country.
“I think the world has moved on from what was quite a dramatic period under Brexit and under the issues related to Covid.”
The ex-Tory chair was at pains to point out that Mr Johnson enjoyed success with the response to the invasion of Ukraine and the Covid vaccine roll-out.
But he added “people both in the Conservative Party and outside don’t miss the drama” of his administration.
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He said the country was “under new management” with Mr Sunak focused on priorities such as reducing hospital backlogs and stopping Channel small boat crossings.
Ministers distanced themselves from Mr Johnson’s criticism of the Privileges Committee report.
He accused the seven-person panel of a “witch-hunt” — likening the MPs led by Labour’s Harriet Harman, to a “kangaroo court”.
Mr Shapps said he had “no reason” to believe the accusations.
Meanwhile Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg — knighted in last week’s resignation honours — said Mr Johnson will come back to frontline politics “to save the nation”.
He added there would be a Tory “civil war” if bosses blocked him from standing again — claiming Boris was in “pole position” to return at some date to lead the Conservatives for a second time.
Former Tory minister Tim Loughton told Times Radio that he wished Mr Johnson would now “shut up and go away”.
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He added: “His sad demise was brought about entirely at his own doing, frankly.”
A government source said: “Rishi knows people just want to see him and his government delivering for them. That’s why he’s focused day in, day out on his five priorities — halving inflation, reducing debt, growing the economy, cutting waiting lists and stopping the boats.
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