Boris Johnson has insisted that he is honest – despite misleading Parliament over his breach of Covid rules at Downing Street during the pandemic.
The Prime Minister was pressed on the issue during an interview on ITV’s Good Morning Britain programme.
And Johnson once again apologised for having, as he claimed, ‘inadvertently’ misled the House of Commons.
An investigation is due to be carried out by Parliament’s Privileges Committee into the matter after MPs voted in favour of a probe.
Under government rules, knowingly misleading Parliament is a resigning offence.
Asked by presenter Susanna Reid whether he is honest, Johnson said: “Yes, and I think that the best way to judge that is to look at what this government says it’s going to do and what it does, that’s what matters.”
The Prime Minister continued: “I do my best to represent faithfully and accurately what I believe.
“And sometimes it’s controversial and sometimes it offends people, but that’s what I do.”
Put to the Prime Minister that people sometimes say he lies, Johnson responded: “If you’re talking about the statements I made in the House of Commons, I was inadvertently… I was wrong and I’ve apologised for that.”
Johnson urged people to wait for the conclusion of the investigation being conducted by the Met Police.
He said: “I’ve apologised for the things that we got wrong during the pandemic and I repeat those apologies.
“But, with great respect, I’m going to have to ask you to wait until the conclusion of the investigation.”
Johnson also denied that he has received further fines since being issued a fixed penalty notice.
However, he admitted that he has “no idea” as to whether he could receive a further fine.
He said: “I’m getting on with the job that I was elected to do, discharging the mandate that I was given and I’m proud of what we’re doing.
“You asked at the beginning, ‘can people rely on me?’, and can they rely on what I say about what I’m going to do.
“Well, just look at the record. We said we would get Brexit done and we did. We said we would put 20,000 more police officers on the street, we’ve got about 30,500 now.
“We said we would get 50,000 more nurses, and in spite of all the economic difficulties, we’re on target to get 50,000 more nurses.”
At the conclusion of the interview, Johnson also asked, ‘Who is Lorraine?’, having been told that he would later be speaking to Lorraine Kelly.
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