LONDON: Boris Johnson deliberately misled the British parliament in an unprecedented way over rule-breaking parties at his office during COVID-19 lockdowns, a committee said on Thursday (Jun 15) in a damning verdict that further tarnished the former prime minister
Almost a year ago, Johnson was talking about remaining prime minister into the 2030s. But the Privileges Committee – the main disciplinary body for lawmakers – said on Thursday that he should now be stripped of having automatic access to parliament.
The committee also accused Johnson of being “complicit in a campaign of abuse and attempted intimidation” towards them.
In typically combative style, Johnson, who in 2019 led the Conservatives to a landslide election victory, dismissed the report as “a lie” and “a charade”, and accused committee members of waging a vendetta against him.
The stand-off will do little to heal the deep divisions in the Conservatives and can only pile pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose push to try to boost Britain’s flagging economy is being overshadowed by the ongoing Johnson drama.
The more than 100-page report detailed six events held at 10 Downing Street, the prime minister’s office and residence.
“We conclude that in deliberately misleading the House (of Commons) Mr Johnson committed a serious contempt,” the committee said.
“The contempt was all the more serious because it was committed by the prime minister, the most senior member of the government. There is no precedent for a prime minister having been found to have deliberately misled the House.”
It recommended that he should not be entitled to a former member’s pass, which enables most former prime ministers and lawmakers to gain automatic access to parliament. Parliament will consider the committee’s recommendation next Monday.
Asked about the report’s conclusions, a spokesman for Sunak said that the prime minister had not as yet read it but he believed the committee had carried out the inquiry properly and “that it would not be right to traduce or criticise the work” of it.
The committee, made up of four Conservatives and three opposition lawmakers, rejected Johnson’s defence that the gatherings were within the rules and that his advisers had supported his belief that was the case.
Instead, it said, Johnson was “deliberately disingenuous when he tried to reinterpret his statements to the House to avoid their plain meaning and reframe the clear impression that he intended to give”.
It said that were Johnson still a member of parliament, it would have recommended a suspension from the House of Commons for 90 days.
Source: CNA
