Burak Bir
15 June 2023•Update: 15 June 2023
LONDON
Britain's ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson "knowingly misled parliament" about "partygate" lockdown parties held at Downing Street that breached COVID rules, according to a new report by an official committee on Thursday.
Parliament’s House of Commons Privileges Committee found that Johnson knowingly misled parliament multiple times and that his breaches were serious enough to recommend a 90-day suspension, if he were still an MP, although he gave up his seat last week.
In his resignation statement last week, Johnson announced he was stepping down with immediate effect and claimed that he did not lie.
He further claimed that "in their hearts the committee know” that he told the truth. The committee has been investigating his social distancing breaches during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
The report said his denials "were so disingenuous that they were deliberate attempts to mislead the Committee."
It added that Johnson committed "repeated contempts" and sought to undermine the parliamentary process, by "deliberately misleading the House,” "deliberately misleading the Committee,” "breaching confidence,” "impugning the Committee and thereby undermining the democratic process of the House," and "being complicit in the campaign of abuse and attempted intimidation of the Committee."
The committee also said that he should not be given parliamentary passes granted to former MPs.
The report also included statements and letters from the former premier, including his June 9 resignation statement and his March 30 letter to Charles Walker, a Tory MP.
In the letter, Johnson said he has "the utmost respect for the integrity of the Committee and all its Members and the work that it is doing."
'Report is a charade'
In reaction to the report, Johnson denied that he deliberately misled the House, saying: "That is a load of complete tripe."
"This is rubbish. It is a lie. In order to reach this deranged conclusion, the Committee is obligated to say a series of things that are patently absurd, or contradicted by the facts," he said.
"This report is (a) charade," Johnson said, adding that believing in the Committee or its good faith was a mistake.
Speaking before the committee in March, Johnson admitted misleading parliament, but denied doing it on purpose. "Hand on heart, I did not lie to the House,” he said.
Partygate was the name given to the scandal that saw dozens of parties held during the pandemic at the Prime Minister's Office and government departments that were exposed in the media.
Johnson, MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, was ousted from the premiership by his party MPs last July following a series of allegations, but had held onto his seat in Commons, until last week.
