Jeremy Hunt refuses to answer whether Boris Johnson is an honest man

Jeremy Hunt has dodged questions about whether Boris Johnson is "an honest man".

Asked by the BBC's Sophie Raworth about Johnson's traits yesterday, the former health secretary dodged the question twice and said it wasn't "helpful" to talk about the PM's personality given the situation in Ukraine.

He said: "I think that talking about personalities is not a helpful thing to do when I've just said -"

"It's a simple question," Raworth interjected and Hunt continued: "It's a simple question but its not a helpful thing to do when I've just said I think that we need to recognise the international situation is very serious and we need strong leadership from the prime minister we have."

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Johnson's honesty has been called into question following the revelation police have now issued 100 fixed-penalty notices as part of an investigation into Downing Street parties. The PM previously said no rules were broken but that has turned out to not be the case. Nevertheless, his allies have previously defended him and said he made a mistake and yesterday it was Hunt's turn to be quizzed.

But on the issue of whether Johnson was the best person for the job, Hunt said: “I hope he can turn things around.”

He did say, however, that he thought that Tory MPs should support the prime minister “in the situation we are now in” with the war in Ukraine.

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