Only 23% of people think Boris Johnson is the right person to be Prime Minister, GB News poll finds

An exclusive poll by Yonder Consulting for GB News has found that only 23% of those interviewed think that Boris Johnson is the right person to be Prime Minister.

It comes as Dominic Cummings said he was willing to “swear under oath” that Mr Johnson had lied when claiming he did not know the May 20 2020 event would be a “drinks party” in advance.

In the Commons last week, the Prime Minister admitted spending 25 minutes at the gathering but insisted he had believed “implicitly” that it would be a work event.

On Monday, Mr Cummings said he and another senior official warned the Prime Minister’s principal private secretary Martin Reynolds that his invite to around 100 staff was against coronavirus rules.

“I said to the PM something like: ‘Martin’s invited the building to a drinks party, this is what I’m talking about, you’ve got to grip this madhouse’. The PM waved it aside,” Mr Cummings wrote on his blog.

“The events of May 20 alone, never mind the string of other events, mean the PM lied to Parliament about parties.

“Not only me but other eyewitnesses who discussed this at the time would swear under oath this is what happened.”

A No 10 spokesman insisted Mr Johnson had apologised to the House and that he “believed implicitly” that he had been attending a work event.

“It is untrue that the Prime Minister was warned about the event in advance,” the spokesman said, adding Mr Johnson would be making a further statement when senior civil servant Sue Gray has completed her inquiry into party allegations.

GB News' poll also found two thirds (67%) of participants believe the Prime Minister has not told the truth about parties in Downing Street.

In an exclusive interview with GB News, Labour's Jonathan Ashworth questioned why Conservative MPs are still "putting up" with the Prime Minister.

He told Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster: "I’ll tell you why they’re putting up with this, they’re weighing up what they think is in their electoral interest, whether they should think with this guy or get rid of him because of how that will impact on the next election.

"They should be making a decision on what is in the national interest.

"Winston Churchill said 'country comes first not political party', Tory MPs should have that in their mind today."

It comes as Ministers are setting out a flurry of policies, under the title Operation Red Meat, which are designed to revive Boris Johnson’s fortunes as he faces continuing anger over “partygate” allegations.

These include a threat to scrap the BBC licence fee, ending coronavirus restrictions and tougher action against Channel crossings.

But whether all this will succeed in appeasing anger is another matter, with former minister Tim Loughton suggesting policy changes or sackings cannot “put things right”.

“In this case all roads lead back to Downing Street and the person whose name is on the front door,” the MP said as he set out why he thinks Mr Johnson must resign.