Tory feud deepens as Rishi Sunak slaps down Boris Johnson

LONDON — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hit back Monday at his successor-but-one Boris Johnson amid a bitter Conservative Party row over Johnson’s bid to put his allies in the House of Lords.

Sunak told an audience at London Tech Week that Johnson “asked me to do something that I wasn’t prepared to do because I didn’t think it was right” — a reference to clearing a list of names Johnson had hoped to elevate to the unelected second chamber.

Johnson dramatically quit as an MP on Friday, taking aim at a parliamentary probe into his conduct in the Partygate affair and blasting Sunak’s leadership of the Conservative Party. The pair have plenty of bad blood between them, with Sunak dealing a mortal blow to Johnson’s government last year by quitting as his top finance minister.

The latest feud centers on Johnson’s resignation honors list, which allows a departing prime minister to appoint people to the second chamber and gift them titles. Some allies who had been expecting rewards in Johnson’s list Friday were left empty-handed, and two quit as MPs this weekend — teeing up tricky by-elections for Sunak’s party.

The appointments, vetted by the House of Lords Appointments Commission (HOLAC), had to be cleared by the British prime minister. In an unusual move this weekend, Downing Street published a list of names that had been cleared by HOLAC — an apparent attempt to show that Sunak acted in line with the watchdog’s recommendation rather than overruling it.

Asked about the controversy Monday, and whether Johnson had tried to undermine him, Sunak said: “Boris Johnson asked me to do something that I wasn’t prepared to do because I didn’t think it was right. That was to either overrule the HOLAC committee or make promises to people.

“I wasn’t prepared to do that. As I said, I didn’t think it was right. And if people don’t like that, then tough.”

Sunak added: “When I got this job, I said I was going to do things differently because I wanted to change politics — and that’s what I’m doing.”

The row over Johnson’s resignation honors list comes as MPs on the House of Commons privileges committee prepare to sign off on what is expected to be a damning report on Johnson’s conduct.

The committee has been investigating whether Johnson misled the House of Commons when fielding questions on lockdown-breaching parties that took place in government at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Johnson has labeled the committee a “kangaroo court.”