Boris Johnson: What did he say during visit to Hexham General Hospital?

Boris Johnson’s interview with broadcasters on a visit to Hexham General Hospital in Northumberland.

Q: Prime Minister, do you regret the huge error of judgment that saw you attempting to rewrite parliamentary rules in favour of a friend? Will you now apologise to your party and more importantly to the public?

Boris Johnson: “I’m here to look at what we’re doing to encourage people to get their booster jabs and that is the single most important thing that the Government can do at the present time.

“Unfortunately, what you’ve got at the moment is a situation in which the waning of the original two jabs is starting to see too many elderly people getting into hospital.

“Sadly, the jabs do wane. We’ve done 10 million booster jabs already and it’s a very effective thing.

“It’s a wonderful thing, people get 95% more protection, so I’m encouraging everybody today to go online if you’ve gone over five months, you can go online and book your booster.”

Q: Thank you, now we’ve got that out of the way, will you answer my first question Prime Minister? Will you apologise for the way you dealt with the Owen Paterson parliamentary standards affair last week?

Mr Johnson: “So, what we’ve got to make sure is that we take all this very, very seriously and that we get it right.

“And there’s a debate today, unfortunately I can’t be there because I had a long-standing engagement up here.

“But Labour want to focus… the opposition obviously want to focus on a particular case, a particular MP who suffered a serious personal tragedy, and who’s now resigned.

“What we want to do… and I frankly, I don’t think there’s much more to be said about that particular case, I really don’t.

“But what we do need to do is look also at the process, and that is what we were trying to do last week and what I hope is that there will be through the good offices of the Speaker – and if what I read and I hear, that hope may be well-founded – there will be cross-party agreement on a way forward, including an appeals process for very difficult and very sad cases such as the one we’ve seen.

Q: You’ve been in power for more than two years, you could have acted to change the parliamentary standards any time, you did it last week when one of your MPs.. you were trying to get him off the hook weren’t you? Do you accept that?

Mr Johnson: “No, absolutely not. There’s been long-standing concerns amongst MPs across the House of Commons about the process.

“What we’re seeing now is a… I think that if I understand things correctly, the Speaker is saying he wants to have a cross-party approach to look at the issue of appeals in particularly difficult cases, and I totally support that.”

Q: To be clear Prime Minister, you’re not going to apologise for the way you acted?

Mr Johnson: “Look, I think it’s very important that we get this right, and we are going to make every effort to get it right.

“And we are going to hold MPs to account.

“What I think is also… and MPs, as I said last week, should not break the rules.”

Q: Should MPs be allowed to have second jobs, Prime Minister, or would it be simpler to scrap consultancy work on the side?

Mr Johnson: “I think that all those kinds of things are issues that the Speaker’s panel – whatever he sets up – is going to have a look at.

“But I am focused, as you can imagine, on the number one priority for today, which is getting people to get their booster jabs.

“And with great respect to you, it’s my humble contention that the most important thing we can do for our country today, if we want to protect our NHS, if we want to make sure that we don’t have excessive pressures on A&E over what promises to be a tough winter, the most important thing we can do is all get our booster jabs when we’re called.”

Q: How do you respond to Sir John Major who said your handling of the case was shameful and wrong and trashing the reputation of Parliament? Do you believe the rules just don’t apply to you?

Mr Johnson: “No, of course not, and I’ve said what I’ve said about the particular case of one MP who as I said suffered – over the course of a long investigation – suffered a personal tragedy, has now resigned his seat, and I really don’t have any more to add to that.

“If there is anything positive to come out of the whole thing it is that as far as I can make out the Speaker is determined to try to move us all forward with a system whereby we can have a cross-party approach, which is what we were trying to achieve last week, get everybody together and look at ways in which we can reform and improve the process.”

Q: In the past seven years, nearly every former Conservative Party treasurer has been offered at least a peerage. How do you explain that?

Mr Johnson: “I know that you’re going to keep sort of focusing on this type of issue.

“I’m focusing on getting the booster jabs rolled out for the people of this country, 73% of 75 to 79-year-olds have had their booster, 70% of 80-year-olds, we’ve got to get those numbers up, and I think most people will understand why that’s so important.”

Q: Can you rule out Owen Paterson getting a peerage?

Mr Johnson: “There’s been absolutely no discussion of that.”

Q: What is the role for (Standards Commissioner) Kathryn Stone now? Do you still want to see the parliamentary standards system overhauled?

Mr Johnson: “I think that this is a matter for the Speaker, it’s a matter for… I know it’s going to be debated today.

“I have the utmost respect for the Speaker and his general desire to produce a cross-party outcome, cross-party reform of the system, which is what we were trying to achieve last week.”

Q: A couple of regional ones, the Conservative Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire Philip Allott resigned recently, now the Cleveland PCC Steve Turner is being investigated over allegations of sexual assault. Can people really trust Conservatives put up for election in our region?

Mr Johnson: “Conservatives are absolutely dedicated to fighting crime and what we do is we support our fantastic police officers, men and women, who put themselves in the line of danger every day.

“We do that by strengthening the law on the release of offenders and by putting more police on the streets.”

Q: And on these two police and crime commissioners?

Mr Johnson: “What our Police and Crime Commissioners do is hold the police to account and make sure they deliver for the public. That’s what they’re there to do.”

Q: Finally, with Covid cases in the North East above the national average and hospitals here under pressure, what’s your response to local directors of public health in the area calling for a move to Plan B, at least in part?

Mr Johnson: “I hear that and I see different scientific advice and different scientists say different things at different times, different people in the health service say different things.

“We study the data every day, we have reviews with NHS chiefs every day to look at where we are.

“And I just want to get back to that – and I know that you may resent me for saying this – gently just say the key thing we want to do is to reduce those pressures, which are building on the A&Es, on beds, by encouraging people – particularly the over-50s – to come forward and get your booster jab.

“And it’s a wonderful thing for you. It’s also a great thing for the country.

“We had superb rates of participation in the initial vaccination campaign, the booster gives you a lot more protection, it’s a great thing to have.

“I just urge everybody to do it. Today’s the day when you can go online and if you’re over five months, and get your booster.”