Boris Johnson is too busy trying to save his job to bother with cost-of-living crisis – Ian Murray MP

Another week, another party, another lame excuse from the PM.

First, he denied parties, then he said he wasn’t there, then they were “work events”, then it was someone else’s fault, then he claimed nobody explained his rules to him, and now the latest – he was ambushed by his own birthday cake. A pathetic continuation of his contemptuous response to breaking lockdown rules.

As I write this, the Sue Gray report hasn’t arrived, but the reality is that the public has already reached its judgement.

Boris Johnson and his colleagues broke the law and he continually lied about it. He is a liar, not a leader and is not fit for office.

While people were saying their last goodbyes to loved ones from a distance, he was partying.

And we now have the extraordinary spectacle of the Prime Minister being subject to a police investigation.

As Keir Starmer said yesterday, Johnson shows nothing but contempt for the decency, honest and respect that defines this country. And the PM shows no sign of understanding the outrage either.

Boris Johnson is a liar, not a leader (Picture: Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)

That perhaps shouldn’t come as a surprise, but never has the UK had a leader so out of touch. It looks like he’s determined to cling on.

Throughout this scandal, the Tories have done immense damage to public trust. Just how much damage are they prepared to do to save his skin?

Tory MPs should kick him out. And if they don’t, we will kick him out of Downing Street at the next election. A vote for Labour is the only way to do that.

While this ridiculous spectacle continues, with new allegations every other day, it means the cost-of-living crisis engulfing the country is not getting any `government attention.

People are worried about their energy bills and cost of the weekly shop.

And while much of the country is about to spend a lot more of their income from their jobs on energy, the PM is spending all his energy on saving his job.

He claims to love this country, but if he truly meant that he would accept that this country has lost all confidence in him and his government – and he should resign.

It’s utterly damning that all this is happening at a time when petrol prices, the weekly shop and energy bills are going through the roof and historic Tory tax rises are coming down the tracks that will make this crisis even worse.

Labour would give families security with fully-funded measures now to keep energy bills down, paid for by a windfall tax on North Sea Oil and gas producer profits.

This would save most households £200 off their bills – including a VAT cut on home energy bills – with targeted extra help of up to £400 more to the squeezed middle, pensioners, and the lowest earners.

That’s what we should be focused on, but it’s impossible while this Prime Minister remains in his role.

Instead, we have this scandal-riddled Tory government that has no answers to the cost-of-living crisis facing the country and can't even tell us the truth without a two-month long inquiry and police investigation.

If the PM truly wanted to restore trust and put public interest first, he’d do the honourable thing and resign.

Ian Murray is Labour MP for Edinburgh South

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