BBC QT panel stunned as nobody in audience believes Boris

Question Time: No one in audience believes Boris over partygate

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Nobody in the BBC Question Time audience said they believed Boris Johnson in his Partygate showdown. The former PM yesterday faced a three-hour grilling by MPs on the Privileges Committee over whether he lied to the Commons with his denials about lockdown-breaking Downing Street parties.

During tonight’s BBC Question Time in Newcastle-under-Lyme, journalist Tom Newton Dunn suggested a straw poll of the audience to see what they think about- Mr Johnson.

Mr Newton Dunn said: “It feels to me that the public has made up their mind on Boris Johnson.

“Tory MPs have made up their mind on Boris Johnson. Only 21 of them followed him through the division lobby on the big Brexit vote yesterday. Back in the day it was hundreds doing that.

“It’s often said that Red Wall seats, which Newcastle-under-Lyme is technically one of them, you were a Labour sear, you’ve gone Tory now, his great support is here in the Red Wall.

“You’re the presenter Fiona, but we could do a quick straw poll to see how many of the audience think Boris Johnson could come back.”

Host Fiona Bruce said: “We can do a poll, it’s not scientific I want to emphasise that.

“There are more people in this audience who voted for Boris Johnson, for the Conservative Party, than for any other party.”

She went on to ask for a show of hands of who believed Mr Johnson told the truth yesterday.

But not a single person put their hand up as Ms Bruce and members of the panel were heard saying “wow” and “gosh”.

The host went on to ask if anyone in the audience believed there was a way back for Mr Johnson, to which one member raised their hand.

The audience member said: “He’s like a saucepan, nothing sticks to him, so he’s probably going to come back anyway.”

Mr Johnson’s fate is now in the hands of the Privileges Committee after he faced a host of questions about what he knew about parties held in Downing Street during lockdown and his explanations to MPs.

The former prime minister accepted he misled the Commons with his Partygate denials but said he did not do so “recklessly”.

He said he made his denials to Parliament “in good faith” on the advice of his officials, which he now concedes turned out to be wrong.

Mr Johnson swore on the Bible to tell the truth before issuing an apology and adding: “I’m here to say to you, hand on heart, I did not lie to the House.

“When those statements were made, they were made in good faith and on the basis of what I honestly knew and believed at the time.”

The ex-PM, who exited No 10 last September, could be suspended and face a possible by-election if he is found to have committed a contempt of Parliament with his denials of rule-breaking to MPs.

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