A Tory MP who was defending Boris Johnson said the last days of Rome 'were more fun'

A Tory MP defending Boris Johnson has said that “the last days of Rome were more fun”.

In an interview with Krishnan Guru-Murthy on Channel 4 News, Conservative MP and chief secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke, was defending the Prime Minister over his false comments about Keir Starmer and Jimmy Savile.

Guru-Murthy asked if he would prefer Rishi Sunak. He said: “Given a choice between the man who said this fake news slur and the man, Rishi Sunak, who says, ‘I would not have said that,’, who do you prefer?”

Clarke reiterated his support for Johnson, saying he was “very glad” he is there as prime minister to get on with the “crucial mission” of levelling up.

Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Guru-Murthy retorted: “Does it feel like the last days of Rome in there?

Clarke replied: “No, it doesn’t. I mean, the last days of Rome I think were more fun.”

Some on Twitter, including Labour MP Emily Thornberry, reposted Clarke’s comments – it seems many were in disbelief.

It comes amid a slew of resignations from Downing Street for a number of reasons, including partygate and Johnson’s handling of his Savile comments he made on Monday, accusing Starmer of failing to prosecute him while he was in charge of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). He appeared to back down yesterday, acknowledging that Starmer wasn't personally involved in the case.

“I was making a point about his responsibility for the organisation as a whole. I really do want to clarify that because it is important.”

This is one for the 'Tories who think they are helping but are actually making things a whole lot worse' archive, we think.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.