'He used the Conservatives!': Boris Johnson's ex-girlfriend Petronella Wyatt claims ex-PM has 'never had a Tory idea'
15 June 2023, 19:13
Boris Johnson is not a true Tory and only used the Conservative party to get into power, his ex-girlfriend Petronella Wyatt has told LBC.
Ms Wyatt, who had an affair with Mr Johnson while he was editor of the Spectator in the early 2000s, told LBC's Andrew Marr that her former lover has "never had a Tory idea in his head".
She told LBC: "I remember discussing [Benjamin] Disraeli (former UK prime minister) with him once and he didn’t even know anything about Disraeli’s most famous speeches. He knew practically nothing about Robert Peele.
"He’s not a Tory, he’s somebody who used the Tory party…he attacks what he calls the Westminster elite but he is so Westminster elite at heart - he’s wealthy, socially liberal, believes in animal rights, carbon net zero - he is not some Lee Anderson."
She added that he probably was never a "true Brexiteer", describing his decision to side with VoteLeave as "largely a career move".
Listen and subscribe to Unprecedented: Inside Downing Street on Global Player
'It was much kinder than I expected': Petronella Wyatt not surprised by Partygate report
Ms Wyatt, a journalist and columnist, said she was surprised by the report, saying "it was much kinder" than she expected.
Assessing Mr Johnson's notoriety for lying, Ms Wyatt continued: "[Boris] hasn’t just lied to Parliament, he’s lied to everybody he’s lied to everyone who has employed him…he lied to all his friends…but he is the architect of his own downfall.
"But the interesting thing about him is that he has persecution mania. And people with persecution mania think that it’s all a conspiracy and everybody’s out to get them - that isn’t the case.
“The fact is with Boris he arouses…such uncontrollable irritation that you just want him to go away. He brings everything on himself, he’s not this victim.”
Read More: Andrew Marr: Partygate report on Boris Johnson shows Parliamentary democracy is still in good order
The former prime minister had been under investigation by the Commons privileges committee since last June, after an investigation by police and then senior civil servant Sue Gray confirmed a series of gatherings had taken place in Downing Street during lockdowns.
Today in a bombshell report the committee said he had been "disingenuous" and if he had not already as an MP he should have been suspended for 90 days.
The report also said Mr Johnson should be banned from getting a former MP pass for the Parliamentary estate.
In a statement this morning, he dismissed the findings as "tripe" and "deranged", saying the committee was "beneath contempt" and part of a "protracted political assassination".
"We didn't believe that what we were doing was wrong, and after a year of work the Privileges Committee has found not a shred of evidence that we did," he said.
