BORIS Johnson will today fight back on multiple flanks as he faces interrogation on sleaze, the Budget tax bombshell and crime.
He will also be taken to task by the the female Tory who this week accused his father Stanley of smacking her backside at a party conference.
The PM, who’s also battling a sore throat, will appear for his 90-minute grilling before senior MPs at 3pm.
High on the agenda will be the sleaze saga that’s dogged the Government for two weeks following the fallout of the Owen Paterson scandal.
Last night Mr Johnson finally tried to extinguish the row by proposing a ban on MPs taking second jobs as paid consultants or lobbyists.
In his letter to Speaker Lindsay Hoyle he also advocated punishment for MPs who spend more time on side hustles rather than working for the voters.
Sir Keir Starmer, who was blindsided by the announcement, said it doesn’t go far enough and is tabling a bid to ban all second jobs today.
Labour’s Chris Bryant, head of the cross-party sleaze watchdog, is set to haul the PM over the coals over sleaze at this afternoon’s Liaison Committee.
Mr Johnson also faces questions on last month’s Budget that whacked up taxes to their highest since the Second World War.
Along with eye-catching tax breaks for beer and wine, Rishi Sunak also sprayed billions at public services that come with a hefty tax bombshell.
He also cut the Universal Credit taper rate to 55 per cent, allowing millions of claimants to keep more of their money.
Tory MPs are nervous that taxes are so high, although the Chancellor says he wants to see them falling by the next election.
Mr Johnson will also take questions from Tory MP Caroline Nokes during a part of the session on violence against women and girls.
Ex-Cabinet Minister Ms Nokes this week accused the PM’s father Stanley of groping her at the 2003 Tory Party conference.
She told Sky News: “I can remember a really prominent man – at the time the Conservative candidate for Teignbridge in Devon – smacking me on the backside about as hard as he could and going, ‘oh, Romsey, you’ve got a lovely seat’.”
It prompted journalist Ailbhe Rea to also accuse Stanley of groping her at the 2019 Tory conference.
Last night Stanley told the Sun: “I have no recollection of Caroline Nokes, and no idea what she was talking about.”
And he added: “Had I been asked about the allegation made by the journalist of the New Statesman, I would have said the same thing.”
Downing St has so far refused to comment on the allegations.
