The one simple truth about Partygate that Boris Johnson can't tell you

Jacob Rees-Mogg's extraordinary defence of his boss will only harden opinions against the Prime Minister.

With the Partygate scandal drawing ever closer to Boris Johnson’s door, the prime minister’s allies have been furiously preparing the ground for him to avoid any responsibility for it.

On the front line of ‘Operation Save Big Dog’ today was Jacob Rees-Mogg, who made a truly bizarre set of excuses for his boss.

Talking to LBC, the Brexit Opportunities Minister denied that Johnson had lied about what had happened, but had instead merely passed on the “wrong information”.

“The prime minister said he was told the rules were followed but that turns out not to be correct,” Mogg told a caller on Nick Ferrari’s show.

"If the prime minister is told information that is incorrect and passes that information on he has made no deliberate attempt to mislead anybody."

Now even if we leave aside the fact that Johnson has already admitted attending at least one of these parties he now claims to have been told didn’t happen, and that at least one of the other parties took place in his own flat, this line of defence is quite obviously a nonsense.

However, Rees-Mogg went even further.