Boris Johnson’s lies about ‘Partygate’ ultimately caused his downfall as Prime Minister.
Conservative MPs realised that the collapse in public trust in the Government caused by the scandal would be impossible to recover from, unless they changed leader.
Throughout his downfall, Johnson repeatedly refused to admit his own dishonesty, leading voters to eventually decide that they could no longer trust him.
It is therefore remarkable that one of the leading contenders to replace him appears determined to repeat his mistake.
Penny Mordaunt, who is widely tipped to make the final round of this contest, has in the space of just a couple of weeks made a series of false claims that rival those of Johnson’s.
Mordaunt’s most egregious false claim is that the UK did not have a veto to prevent Turkey from joining the EU.
Mordaunt first made this false claim way back in 2016 when she was a Defence Minister in David Cameron’s Government.
Her claim, which she made as a representative of the official Leave campaign, was entirely untrue. The UK did have a veto and could have used it under the unlikely scenario of the EU attempting to bring Turkey in during his premiership.
Mordaunt’s claim was particularly egregious, given that it coincided with the Leave Campaign’s other false claim, pasted on posters across...
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