Boris Johnson has accused Rishi Sunak of “talking rubbish” after the Prime Minister accused his predecessor of asking him to overrule the vetting committee to push through his House of Lords nominations.
The rancour between former Tory leader and his successor descended into a public slanging match as Mr Sunak said his one-time ally had asked him to “do something I wasn’t prepared to do”.
“I didn’t think it was right and if people don’t like that, then tough,” Mr Sunak said on Monday in his first comments since Mr Johnson dramatically resigned as an MP.
Publicly turning on the man he used to share Downing Street with, Mr Sunak suggested Mr Johnson wanted him to ignore the recommendations of the House of Lords Appointments Commission (Holac).
But Mr Johnson’s camp accused the man who was his Chancellor of having “secretly blocked” the peerages of former culture secretary Nadine Dorries and other allies in his resignation list.
The former prime minister released a statement saying: “Rishi Sunak is talking rubbish.
“To honour these peerages it was not necessary to overrule Holac – but simply to ask them to renew their vetting, which was a mere formality.”
