4 2GM Thursday April 28 2022 | the times
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Boris Johnson has claimed that he did
not break the law at the “Abba party”
that was held in his flat because he was
interviewing a close friend of his wife
about a potential job at No 10.
The prime minister invited Henry
Newman, then an adviser to Michael
Gove, to join him in the No 11 flat where
he lives with his wife and children.
Scotland Yard is investigating claims
that a party was held in the flat on the
night of November 13, 2020, to mark the
departure of Johnson’s former advisers
Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain.
A government source said Johnson
has claimed that he did not break the
law because he was conducting a work-
related interview with Newman in
another part of the flat. He was said to
have invited him up to the flat to dis-
tance themselves from leaving drinks
being held for Cain, who had been oust-
ed as director of communications.
Police are investigating claims that aI was doing an interview
— not partying, says PM
Matt Dathan Home Affairs Editor party was held in the No 11 flat that was
organised by Johnson’s wife and
featured Abba songs. Johnson has
denied the claims in the Commons and
told MPs that he was working.
Newman was eventually given a
senior job advising Johnson but left the
role in February this year as part of the
clear-out of the Downing Street opera-
tion after the parties scandal. Newman,
a close friend of Carrie Johnson, then
returned to work for Gove as a senior
adviser at the levelling-up department.
The prime minister’s wife has previ-
ously described Newman as her polit-
ical “bestie”, and he is said to be a regu-
lar visitor to No 11. He became the
centre of the “chatty rat” row in which
Cummings blamed him for leaking
plans for a second Covid lockdown in
2020 to the media. Newman has always
denied this claim.
Neither Newman nor No 10 respond-
ed to a request for comment last night.
Details of the defence given by John-
son about his role in the alleged “AbbaRishi Sunak has told the cabinet that
interest rates are expected to increase
to 2.5 per cent over the next year as he
warned ministers against borrowing
more to fund public spending.
The chancellor told colleagues on
Tuesday that homeowners could see
their mortgage payments rise by more
than £1,000 a year if they are not on
fixed-rate deals.
He said that the financial markets
had already priced in a succession of
interest rate rises, which could reach
2.5 per cent, adding that borrowing
risked stoking inflation further.
A 1 percentage point rise on a typical
mortgage equated to £700, he said as he
argued that cutting the deficit was vital
to keeping interest rates down.
Sunak is under pressure from Tory
MPs and some cabinet ministers to do
more to help people with the cost of liv-
ing. He told Mumsnet: “I want to be sure
that... I don’t make the problem worse.
That’s why I can’t always do everything
that people want, because it actually
might make the situation worse, partic-
ularly with those on mortgages with
rising interest rates.”
The chancellor has rejected calls
from Labour and Tory MPs to bring
forward plans to confront the crisis
over the cost of living. He is planning a
major intervention in his autumn bud-
get, before the energy price cap rises.
Forecasts suggest that energy bills
could rise by 40 per cent in October to
nearly £3,000 a year. Sunak argued that
it would be “silly” to intervene now.
He said: “It would be silly to do that
now, or last month, or the month
before, when we don’t know exactly
what the situation in the autumn is
going to be.”
He defended himself against charges
that he is too rich to understand
people’s struggles with the cost of living
in the wake of a row about his wife’s
non-domiciled tax status.
“Judge me on my actions,” he said. “I
don’t judge people by how much money
they have in their bank account, I look
at their character, their values and how
they’re acting.”
Challenged on accusations that as a
multimillionaire he is insulated from
the consequences of the decisions he
makes for voters struggling to make
ends meet, Sunak said: “Of course now
A male Tory MP has been accused by
two female colleagues of openly
watching pornography on his phone in
the chamber of the House of
Commons.
A formal investigation was launched
yesterday by Chris Heaton-Harris, the
chief whip, after the women made the
allegations at a meeting on misogyny
and sexism.
One of the MPs, a minister, said that
they had seen the Tory MP watching
pornography in the Commons last
week and also during a committee
hearing. She told colleagues that she
believed the man was aware she had
seen him but he continued watching. A
second female Tory MP said she had
also seen the man watching
pornography. She said she had
attempted to film him as proof of what
he was doing.
It was initially reported that the MP
was a frontbencher but government
sources subsequently clarified that the
man in question is a backbencher.
The two MPs made the disclosures at
Tory MP ‘watched porn in Commons’
a meeting of the 2022 group on Tues-
day night, which is campaigning for
greater gender balance in the Conserv-
ative Party. The claims shocked col-
leagues, who initially thought they
were referring to two colleagues. After
discussions with the chief whip at the
end of the meeting they realised it was
the same man.
While Heaton-Harris is investi-
gating the matter, The Times has been
told that it will need to be referred to the
Independent Complaints and Griev-
ance Scheme, which looks into bully-
ing, harassment and sexual miscon-
duct. The Sunday Times reported at the
weekend that 56 MPs have already
been referred to the scheme over com-
plaints of sexual misconduct, including
three cabinet ministers.
Boris Johnson said yesterday that he
considered sexual harassment
“intolerable” and that it was “grounds
for dismissal”. The prime minister’s
press secretary denied the Conserva-
tive Party has an issue with misogyny
and sexism.
Last night a Tory spokesman said:
“Following allegations of inappropriatebehaviour in the Commons the chief
whip has asked that this matter be
referred to the Independent Com-
plaints and Grievance Scheme. Upon
the conclusion of any ICGS
investigation the chief whip will take
appropriate action.”
The 2022 meeting was attended by
some of the most senior women in the
Conservative Party, including Theresa
May, the former prime minister, at least
two serving ministers and Baroness
Morgan of Cotes, a former cabinet min-
ister. The meeting was said by those in
the room to be a “grim” account of life in
politics for women.
One MP said that after a colleague
wore a knee-length leather skirt with a
slit, one male Tory MP told her: “That’s
a nice outfit. What do you do for your
day job?” Several women said that they
were called demeaning names by male
colleagues, and found their love lives
subject to speculation and gossip.
The committee on standards, which
oversees MPs, is considering making
misogyny and racism a specific offence
that could lead to suspension from the
Commons.Steven Swinford
News Politics
Sunak warns of more pain with
Steven Swinford Political Editor
Chris Smyth Whitehall Editor
I’m in a fortunate position, but I didn’t
start like that.”
He said that his achievements were
“a result of so many people’s kindness,
hard work, sacrifice throughout my
life”, citing his grandparents arriving in
Britain with very little. He added: “I
never forget the values that I was raised
with, and actually what I then try and
do is express those values through the
work I do in this job.”
Sunak said he was working “day and
night” and that getting into politics was
“my way of trying to use all the things
that have been given to me to make a
difference”.
During the cabinet meeting on Tues-
day several ministers put forward ideas
to help tackle the cost of living that
would not cost any additional money.
However, doubts emerged yesterday
about the viability of the plans.
Grant Shapps, the transport secre-
tary, said there was “a lot of road to
cover” before he could relax safety
rules and allow drivers to get an MoT
test only every other year.
Karl McCartney, a Conservative
member of the Commons transport
committee, said it was “absolutely
crass” to suggest that changing rules on
MoTs would help significantly with the
cost of living. He said the money saved
on a £54.85 test was “a drop in the
ocean” for drivers.
Shapps told the committee that “cars
have clearly become a lot more reliable
than when the MoT, named after the
Ministry of Transport, was put in
place”, but said that a “very rigorous
safety standard” would have to be met
to make a change.
Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the inter-
national trade secretary, poured cold
water on a plan to cut tariffs on import-
ed food, saying it would have a tiny
impact on bills. She told MPs on the
international trade committee that
unilateral reductions in tariffs would
reduce leverage on other countries to
reduce their own in trade negotiations.
Trevelyan is said to have been un-
aware of a plan floated by Jacob Rees-
Mogg, the Brexit opportunities minis-
ter, and told MPs that while “all of us
across every department are very fo-
cused on thinking about... where we
can find ways to reduce costs”, the plan
was mired in legal complexities over
World Trade Organisation rules.
Words of sympathy must be matched by
action, leading article, page 31Rishi Sunak has said that biology
is critically important in gender-
identity debates and suggested
that women’s sports, lavatories and
prisons should be female-only.
Speaking to Mumsnet, the
chancellor backed women’s fears
that their rights were being eroded
in debates about transgender
subjects as he became the latest
cabinet minister to come down
clearly on one side of one of the
most heated divides in politics.
Ministers are becoming
increasingly outspoken in insisting
that biology must trump gender
identity in areas such as medical
treatment and women’s sports.
However, Sunak had not
previously expressed a view on a
topic that often divides along
generational lines. With Labour
riven by internal disagreements
about how to define a woman,
some Tories have seen the gender
issue as a political target. At the
weekend The Times revealed that
Sajid Javid, the health secretary,
has demanded an inquiry after
becoming concerned vulnerable
children are wrongly being given
gender hormones by the NHS.
Javid has demanded that the
NHS protect single-sex female
wards, and Nadine Dorries, the
culture secretary, has urged
sporting bodies to protect female
athletes, saying that it was
impossible for them to compete
fairly with trans women.
6 Sunak has been cleared of
breaching the ministerial code
over disclosure of his wife’s tax
affairs. Lord Geidt, the prime
minister’s adviser on ministerial
interests, investigated whether the
chancellor had broken the code or
faced a conflict of interest because
his wife, Akshata Murty, had
non-dom status.Chancellor
joins gender
identity debate
Chris SmythAngela Rayner watches Boris Johnson at the dispatch box yesterday. She again