Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner has accused the Conservatives of “24 hours lurching between cover up and cock up” that shows “breath-taking contempt for the country” following a string of bizarre and damaging revelations and incidents.

In the last day alone:

• The Prime Minister was forced to say he would pay for luxury renovations to the Number 10 flat – as his former most senior advisor claimed he told him “his plans to have donors secretly pay for the renovation were unethical, foolish, possibly illegal and almost certainly broke the rules on proper disclosure of political donations”
• Number 10 briefed against a former advisor on the pages of three national newspapers
• Boris Johnson appeared to go back on his promise at Prime Minister’s Questions to publish all personal exchanges on COVID contracts, by instead releasing a summary of his conversations with James Dyson
• The Government dumped David Cameron’s Greensill communications late on Thursday after press had gone to print
• Boris Johnson appeared to breach his own COVID rules while out on the campaign trail
• The Conservatives’ Hartlepool campaign was revealed to have been sharing social media content attacking Labour’s candidate made by US-based accounts spreading COVID misinformation

Angela Rayner MP, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, said:

“The Government has spent the last 24 hours lurching between cover-ups and cock-ups.

“Labour is focusing on jobs, crime and the NHS, while the Conservatives are fighting each other like rats in a sack and slipping deeper and deeper into the mire of sleaze. It shows breath-taking contempt for the country. The choice couldn’t be clearer: a Labour Party focused on the country or a Conservative one focused on themselves and their chums.”