A website wants to track and trace Boris Johnson's 'numerous lies'

A new website is being set up to record what it describes as the "lies and mistruths" of Boris Johnson and his Conservative government.

Journalist and broadcaster Peter Oborne has started a fundraiser for a new site that will apparently track every one of the prime minister’s mistruths.

Oborne, a former chief political commentator of The Daily Telegraph, states: “We want to build a website which will record, sift and analyse the numerous lies, falsehoods and misleading statements of Boris Johnson and his colleagues.”

Oborne set the fundraiser up last month. Since then, the debate over Johnson's truth-telling has come under renewed focus. Last week, Labour MP Dawn Butler was kicked out of the Commons last week after branding Johnson a “liar”.

Watch: Labour PM ordered to leave Commons after accusing PM of lying

Temporary deputy Speaker Judith Cummins told Butler to leave after the Brent Central MP refused to withdraw her remarks.

It is not considered within the boundaries of parliamentary etiquette to call another MP a liar.

Butler protested at being asked to withdraw her claims, saying “it’s funny we get in trouble in this place for calling out the lie rather than the person lying”.

The former Labour deputy leadership candidate was speaking in a debate about the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

She accused Johnson of lying about the economy, nursing bursaries, investment in the NHS, and "severing" the link between coronavirus infections and serious disease and death.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer backed Butler in the row but also agreed with Cummins for "doing the right thing" and following parliamentary rules.

Johnson has been accused of not telling the truth on numerous occasions during his time as PM.

Last month Labour said he was "trying to rewrite history" after he apparently denied having initially backed Matt Hancock after video footage emerged of the then health secretary kissing an aide in his ministerial office.

After the story broke on a Thursday night, Johnson's spokesman said on the Friday that the PM had accepted an apology from Hancock and considered the matter closed.

The West Suffolk MP resigned a day later, and Johnson subsequently claimed credit for his departure, saying that "when I saw the story on Friday we had a new secretary of state for health in on Saturday”.

Labour has also accused Johnson of lying over who paid for the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat.

The government is on the record as saying Johnson covered the cost of the renovation, which some reports have suggested totalled £200,000.

The flat refurbishment was investigated by ministerial standards adviser Lord Geidt, who found Johnson acted “unwisely” but was not in breach of the ministerial code.

In March, Labour accused the PM of lying to MPs after he wrongly claimed Sir Keir had voted against a pay rise for NHS workers in England.

Johnson’s former aide Dominic Cummings has also consistently criticised his former boss for "lies" after leaving his post last year.

He said the PM "lies so blatantly, so naturally, so regularly" that he sees "no real distinction".

The new website to record the PM's lies hopes to raise £12,000 to use to “assemble a small group of paid fact-checkers and researchers” to look into Johnson and his government.

Oborne adds: “Ultimately we believe that political lying, particularly on the extraordinary scale practised by the Johnson government, poses a serious threat to democracy.”

Yahoo UK has approached Downing Street for comment.

Watch: Dawn Butler right to call Johnson a liar, Starmer says