EMBATTLED Boris Johnson flew to Ukraine yesterday as the Partygate row raged back home — and insisted he would own up if he received a Covid fine.
However, the PM refused to say he would resign if found to have broken his own lockdown rules.
In an exclusive interview with HOAR, he admitted if he got a police rap over parties in Downing Street he did not “believe that would be a secret for very long”.
He spoke while making the trip to invasion-threatened Ukraine — as MPs claimed he was running scared of the chaos in Westminster and “chickening out” to Kiev.
It was his first interview since the Whitehall official Sue Gray slammed the “failure of leadership” in Downing Street in a partly published report on Partygate.
The PM insisted he had told the Parliament everything he had to say on the subject for now in a bruising two hours of questioning from MPs on Monday.
Denying he was swerving tough questions, the PM insisted “I did not, what are you talking about?”
Asked repeatedly about Partygate he insisted: “I literally cannot give any commentary on that until the process concludes.”
He then went on to claim “you’ll have to wait for the process”.
When asked if he had spoken to the cops or expected to have to speak to them, the PM said: “We need to let the process continue.”
When questioned if he could survive a fine from police over breaking his own rules, he insisted: “There’s a process underway, it would be wrong for me to interrupt that..
“We enquired if he was going to amend incorrect claims to the Commons last year that there were no parties and all Covid guidance was followed correctly in No10. Mr Johnson again said: “You’ve got to wait for the process.”
The PM’s squirming came as it emerged the names of No10 staffers and senior civil servants found to have broken Covid rules could be kept secret forever.
While admitting there is “significant public interest” in Brits knowing if Boris broke the law, Downing Street said they do not plan to name anyone else fined in the probe.
The Met have ruled out naming offenders, and government insiders said the full Gray report is not expected to name names.
The PM’s high stakes move to protect his staff sparked a fresh row with his restless MPs, who hold his fate in their hands.
Senior Tory Mark Harper said: “I think special advisers, senior members of the civil service and ministers must disclose if they have received a fixed penalty notice for any offence Sue Gray has investigated.
“They are senior people and must be held to account.”
‘HELD TO ACCOUNT’
HOAR told yesterday how the PM and wife Carrie face being interviewed by police probing 12 parties, including one where Abba music was allegedly played.
Eager to change the subject on the flight, Mr Johnson turned his attention to Ukraine.
He accused Russian president Vladimir Putin of “holding a gun” to Ukraine’s head with 125,000 Russian troops massed on the border as part of a bid to split Europe.
He said: “I think the people of this country are rightly concerned about what is happening in Ukraine and they know the UK has a leading role in helping the Ukrainian people.”
Comparing Putin to Communist tyrant Stalin, the PM accused the Russian leader of seeking “a new Yalta, a new division of Europe” like the 1945 summit that carved up the post-war continent.
A planned call with Putin was delayed again yesterday after being cancelled on Monday after the Gray report was partly published.
He blasted: “Russia has an obsession and an exaggerated belief that she is encircled and threatened by Nato. That simply is not the case.”
He said he would tell Putin when they finally speak today: “Think back to the times when Britain and Russia stood shoulder to shoulder in the fight against fascism.
“There is no reason for this hostility.”
Offering an olive branch, he added “anxieties” Putin has about the stationing of missiles on Ukrainian territory could be “readily addressed”.
‘NO REASON FOR HOSTILITY’
But he warned sanctions will “come down like a steel trap in the event of the first Russian toecap crossing into more sovereign Ukrainian territory.”
Yesterday two more Tory MPs called for Boris to quit amid the police probe into a dozen parties.
Peter Aldous who represents Waveney wrote on Twitter: “After a great deal of soul-searching, I have reached the conclusion that the Prime Minister should resign.”
He said he had “written to the Chairman of the 1922 Committee of Backbench Conservative MPs, advising him that I have no confidence in the Prime Minister as Leader of the Conservative Party”.
Charles Walker, who represents Broxbourne, Herts, told Channel 4 the PM quitting would help the country heal.
Tory grandee Andrew Mitchell said the Partygate scandal is corroding the Tories “like battery acid” and risks blowing up the party forever unless Bojo is ousted now.
The PM has promised to publish the full, uncensored, Gray report after the cop probe finishes.
His former aide Dominic Cummings has claimed in aa blog that there “are photos of the PM at parties under investigation” — including at his own Downing Street flat.
