PMQs: Ian Blackford rapped by speaker after asking Boris Johnson ‘are you a liar?’

Ian Blackford was warned by the speaker after asking Boris Johnson “are you a liar?”.

The SNP’s Westminster leader demanded answers from the Prime Minister on Wednesday after it was reported that Mr Johnson claimed he would rather “let the bodies pile high” than have a second lockdown.

The Ross, Skye and Lochaber MP brought up the UK’s death toll at Prime Minister’s Questions, asking “are you a liar, Prime Minister?”.

Mr Blackford continued: “NHS staff have given their all fighting to keep people alive. That’s why so many people find the Prime Minister’s remark that he would rather let the bodies pile high in their thousands than go into lockdown utterly, utterly sickening.

Political artist Kaya Mar holds one of his paintings of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson near the entrance to Downing Street, before Mr Johnson was driven past to go to the Houses of Parliament. Picture: AP Photo/Matt Dunham

“People are willing to go under oath confirming that the Prime Minister said these exact words.

“Parliamentary rules stop me from saying that the Prime Minister has repeatedly lied to the public over the last week, but can I ask the question – are you a liar, Prime Minister?”

His questioning sparked an angry response from Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle.

He said: “Can I just say, unfortunately, they’re in order, but were not savoury and not what we would expect.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson was asked today if he was a "liar" by Ian Blackford

Answering the questions, the Prime Minister said: “If he is going to relay that kind of quotation, it is up to him in a place like Parliament to produce the author, the person who claims to have heard it, because I can’t find them. He’s says that they’re willing to go oath.

“Perhaps they’re sitting somewhere in this building. I rather doubt it because I didn’t say those words.

“What I do believe is that a lockdown is a miserable, miserable thing and I did everything I could to try to protect the British public throughout the pandemic, to protect them from lockdowns, but also to protect them from disease.

“We grieve, as I know the whole House grieves, for every family that has lost a loved one.”

Mr Blackford then claimed it was actually Mr Johnson’s behaviour that was “not in order”.

He continued: “This is a Prime Minister who is up to his neck in a slump of Tory sleaze. We’ve seen contracts for cronies, texts for tax breaks and cash for curtains.

“The Prime Minister has dodged these questions all week and he’s dodged them again today, but these questions simply are not going to go away, so when exactly was money funnelled through Tory HQ into his personal bank account?

"When did he pay back this money? Was it an interest-free loan and who is the donor or donors who originally funded him?

“Is the Prime Minister aware that if he continues to fail to answer these question, that the Electoral Commission has the powers to prosecute [him]?”

Mr Johnson claimed Mr Blackford’s accusations were “complete nonsense”.

The Prime Minister had earlier faced questions from Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer over the redecoration of his Downing Street flat amid a scandal that has seen the Electoral Commission open a formal investigation.

He is accused of using £58,000 of donated party funds for the redecoration, yet no such donation had been declared to the Electoral Commission.

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