‘Rotten apple’ Boris Johnson’s values are the opposite of Liverpool’s, MP tells Parliament

A Liverpool MP has described Boris Johnson as a ‘rotten apple’ and said he ‘covets power above all else’.

Labour MP for Wavertree Paula Barker made the comments in Parliament during a debate over whether the Prime Minister should be investigated by a Commons committee about claims he misled Parliament over lockdown parties in Downing Street.

MPs gave the green light to an inquiry led by the Privileges Committee after the conclusion of police investigations.

The motion from Labour was passed without opposition and a number of Conservative MPs called on the Prime Minister to resign during the debate.

Ms Barker spoke passionately and said: “It is often said that people are the products of their environment.

“Where I come from, empathy, tolerance and a sense of decency and fairness are all characteristics that many of our people in Liverpool hold dear.

“We struggle with the concepts of self-entitlement, haughtiness or selfishness. We pride ourselves on looking out for one another - our family, our friends and our communities - above all else.”

She added: “The pain endured by our people over the past two years has left a deep emotional scar on our collective psyche.

“The British people are now struggling to overcome the fact that their Prime Minister is incapable of the very sacrifices that they made for their loved ones and for the loves ones of people they had never met.

“No person like that is fit to be Prime Minister of this country. The Teflon has come off.

“I am sure the Prime Minister will attempt to reinvent himself, for he covets power above all else.

“He has spent his whole life chasing power for power’s sake, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake.

“He has no interest in my Liverpool, Wavertree constituents, and the people of Uxbridge and South Ruislip will decide whether he has any interest in them.”

She asked Conservative MPs if they would act in the interests of the country or ‘stick with a rotten apple’.

“As the Prime Minister is so fond of a party, the right and proper thing for this House to do today is to give him a party he will never forget—a leaving party.

“Anything less simply undermines our democracy, and that is not good enough,” she said.

Labour MP for Bootle, Peter Dowd, also addressed the Prime Minister’s actions and ended his speech by saying: “Finally, let me say that the mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa approach from the Prime Minister does not wash with my constituents.”

Mr Johnson is currently on a trip India and said he had ‘nothing to hide’.