© Provided by The Independent Boris Johnson today refused to apologise for private texts with business tycoon James Dyson, as Labour accused his government of "sleaze, sleaze, sleaze".
The prime minister insisted that agreeing to "fix" Dyson's problems with tax was "the right thing to do" as he fought to supply ventilators for hospitals at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic.
But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said that the leaked messages showed a culture of "favours, privileged access, tax breaks for mates" at the heart of government which was not available for steel workers facing redundancy, self-employed businesses at risk of bankruptcy or NHS staff needing a pay rise.
The pair clashed at prime minister's questions in the House of Commons hours after the BBC published text messages which showed that Mr Dyson approached the PM direct last year after failing to get a satisfactory response from the Treasury over concerns about the tax basis of staff at his Singapore-based company working on ventilators for the NHS.
"I will fix it tomo! We need you. It looks fantastic," Mr Johnson replied, before texting him again, saying: "[Chancellor] Rishi [Sunak] says it is fixed!! We need you here."
When Sir James then sought a further assurance, Mr Johnson replied: "James, I am First Lord of the Treasury and you can take it that we are backing you to do what you need."
Labour branded the exchange "jaw-dropping", but former prime minister Tony Blair said it "hard to get worked up about this", adding: 'I think there's got to be a certain degree of understanding if you're in the middle of a huge crisis like this."