Boris Johnson’s defence of Downing Street partygate events did not win in the court of public opinion, contrary to Jacob Rees-Mogg’s remarks suggesting he did.
More than two-thirds of people do not believe Johnson’s version of events, a snap poll has suggested, after the former prime minister appeared in front of the Privileges Committee on Wednesday.
Almost seven in ten (68 per cent) of people polled said they did not believe Johnson when he said he honestly believed he was following the rules at the time.
When shown an image of the toast being raised, 6 per cent of respondents said they believed it was an essential work event, 29 per cent that it was a non-essential work event, 40 per cent that it was a party, 19 per cent said they could not tell from the image alone and the rest said they did not know.
A fifth of all respondents said his appearance before the committee had left them feeling his account of events was much less believable, 4 per cent said it was much more believable and 37 per cent said their view was unchanged while others said they did not know.
The majority (58 per cent) of those surveyed said Johnson’s response to partygate allegations had not been respectful towards those bereaved in the pandemic, while 25 per cent said it had been and the rest said they did not know.
The findings clearly rubbish Rees-Mogg’s claims that his former boss won in the court of public opinion, as he attested here:
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