Boris Johnson has insisted the contemporary claims he broke lockdown guidelines are “total nonsense” and that components of his ministerial diary have been “cherry picked and handed to police”.
The former prime minister was confronted by Sky News concerning the allegations as he made his option to the Dulles International Airport in Washington following a short tour of the US.
Asked if he broke the foundations he mentioned: “I just think it’s totally nonsensical and bizarre that there are tens of thousands of entries in the the Prime Minister’s diary. I’ve never seen these things before.
“I’ve regarded by means of it. None of them represent a breach of the foundations throughout COVID, they weren’t throughout lockdown.
“They were during other periods of the restrictions. None of them constitute a breach of the rules. None of them involve socialising. It is total nonsense.”
On Wednesday, Mr Johnson was referred to the police by the cupboard officer over potential additional lockdown breaches in Downing Street and Chequers throughout the pandemic.
Mr Johnson, who believes he’s the sufferer of a “politically motivated stitch-up”, has ditched the government-appointed attorneys representing him within the COVID-19 public inquiry after concern was raised about occasions in his ministerial diary.
Mr Johnson is within the US this week.
On Thursday he met Donald Trump “to discuss the situation in Ukraine and the vital importance of Ukrainian victory”, the previous Prime Minister’s spokesman mentioned.
It isn’t clear the place the assembly came about, but it surely occurred while Mr Johnson was on a tour of the US, stopping off in each Texas and Las Vegas.
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The two leaders have identified one another for a few years, and labored collectively when Mr Trump was US president and Mr Johnson was in cost at Downing Street.
Mr Trump has spoken extremely of Mr Johnson and earlier this month known as him a “wonderful guy” and “a friend of mine”.
However he solid doubt on a political comeback whereas claiming the Conservatives had gone “far left” and “too liberal” beneath his management.
He beforehand informed GB News: “I liked him so much, I still like him, but he really went a little bit on the liberal side.
“He impulsively grew to become an environmentalist and I’m speaking about in all probability in a adverse manner, an excessive amount of.”
The two have previously been aligned on policy issues, such as Brexit, but they have also diverged in recent years, most notably on Ukraine.
Mr Johnson was nonetheless prime minister when Russia invaded its southern neighbour final February and was a frontrunner in serving to rally worldwide assist for the Ukrainian individuals and its army.
Meanwhile Mr Trump – who has touted his “very good relationship” with Russian President Vladimir Putin – has one thing of a chequered historical past involving Ukraine, relationship again to earlier than Moscow’s invasion final yr.
In September 2019, studies emerged he had requested Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy to analyze then former vice chairman Joe Biden, who was anticipated to run towards him within the 2020 presidential election.
That telephone name led to Mr Trump’s first impeachment on fees of abuse of energy and obstruction of congress – however he was not convicted after a trial within the Senate.
Earlier this month, in a city corridor dialog broadcast as a part of his 2024 presidential marketing campaign, Mr Trump – who’s working to be the Republican candidate once more – refused to say who he thinks ought to prevail and mentioned he’d finish the warfare in simply 24 hours.
He mentioned: “I want everybody to stop dying. They’re dying. Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done in 24 hours.”
Source: information.sky.com”