Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pleaded for good faith on Tuesday, admitting to misleading Parliament about Downing Street parties during the anti-Covid confinement on the eve of his hearing before a Parliamentary Inquiry Commission.
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His defense in the form of “written evidence” detailed in 110 counts across 52 pages was released on Tuesday.
“I take full responsibility for everything that happened under my supervision” at Downing Street, he begins in the introduction.
Boris Johnson, who was pushed to resign this summer by a series of scandals led by ‘Partygate’, is being examined what if she concludes the former head of government lied to Parliament, losing him his seat and even could cost his political career.
The inquiry must determine whether he willfully lied in the House of Commons, particularly when he claimed before MPs in December 2021 that “the rules have been respected all along”.
He will be heard by the commission of inquiry on Wednesday afternoon, a hearing that is expected to last several hours.
“It is now clear that there have been rallies in Downing Street for several days,” he said in his defence. “They should never have taken place,” he continues, apologizing to the British.
“It is of course true that my declarations to Parliament that the rules were respected at all times have not proved correct and I take this opportunity to apologize to Parliament,” he wrote.
“I recognize that the House of Commons has been misled by my comments,” Boris Johnson said. “But when these statements were made, they were made in good faith and were based on what I honestly knew and believed at the time.”
“I did not intentionally or recklessly deceive Parliament on December 1, 2021, December 8, 2021 or any other date,” he wrote.
In a preliminary report released in early March, the commission said the evidence it had collected “strongly suggests” breaches of anti-Covid rules must have been “obvious” to Boris Johnson.
The former Conservative leader has already been fined by police. Rishi Sunak, then Finance Minister and now Prime Minister, was also fined for attending a Downing Street rally.
Cascading revelations had angered Britons for months, particularly loved ones of Covid victims.
The commission of inquiry hearing Boris Johnson on Wednesday in the ‘Partygate’ scandal, those illegal parties organized at Downing Street during the COVID-19 pandemic, will examine all of the former Prime Minister’s statements to see if he knowingly lied to Parliament.
If Boris Johnson is found to have lied to MPs, he could be suspended, seriously jeopardizing his political future.
Here are the key points that will be checked.
December 1, 2021
“All instructions have been fully followed at No 10 (Downing Street),” Johnson told the House of Commons, his first statement on the case after his parties were revealed by the Daily Mirror the day before.
December 8, 2021
“Since these allegations have surfaced I have been reassured on numerous occasions that there were no parties and that no rules were broken in relation to Covid,” he stressed again in response to the ITV channel’s then Allegra Stratton release of a scathing video of his spokesman .
In the video, she is filmed rehearsing answers for the media when questioned about the case and laughing at claims that Downing Street staff celebrated last Christmas. Then she resigned.
Speaking to MPs, Boris Johnson said he was “angry” at the content of this video. A few days later, the Prime Minister announced the establishment of an inquiry into the scandal, to be led by senior official Sue Gray.
April 12, 2022
Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie are fined along with his Finance Minister Rishi Sunak for attending a party to mark Mr Johnson’s birthday in June 2020.
“I have to honestly say that it didn’t occur to me at the time that it could be a violation of the rules,” he defends himself.
May 25, 2022
The report of the inquiry led by Sue Gray is released and describes, without obscuring any details, the parties organized at Downing Street during the pandemic.
When Boris Johnson says he “bitterly regrets” the way his teams are portrayed in the report, he refuses to step down despite calls from the opposition.
“It never occurred to me that during a pandemic I did anything other than what I felt was my duty as prime minister, and that’s why I did it,” he defends, citing his presence at farewell ceremonies for colleagues justify.
“When I came into that chamber and said in all sincerity that the rules and guidelines were followed at all times – that was what I believed to be true. That was certainly the case when I attended rallies to bid farewell to officials,” he said again in parliament.
Boris Johnson finally resigned on July 7, 2022.