- ‘No precedent’ for Prime Minister deliberately misleading Parliament
- The committee says that one should not automatically be given access to Parliament
- Johnson defends himself over “garbage” report
LONDON, June 15 (Portal) – Boris Johnson has deliberately misled Britain’s Parliament in an unprecedented way over the presence of rule-breaking parties in his office during the COVID-19 lockdowns, a committee said in a scathing ruling on Thursday, which further stained the former prime minister
Almost a year ago, Johnson spoke of remaining prime minister into the 2030s. But the Privileges Committee — lawmakers’ main disciplinary body — said Thursday it should now be stripped of automatic access to Parliament.
The committee also accused Johnson of being involved in “a campaign of abuse and attempted intimidation” against them.
In typically combative style, Johnson, who led the Conservatives to a landslide election victory in 2019, dismissed the report as “lies” and “charades” and accused committee members of plotting revenge against him.
The standoff will do little to heal deep divisions within the Conservatives and can only put pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose efforts to boost Britain’s flagging economy are being overshadowed by the ongoing Johnson drama.
The more than 100-page report details six events at Downing Street, the offices and the Prime Minister’s residence.
“We conclude that Mr. Johnson committed a grave contempt in willfully misleading the House of Representatives,” the committee said:
“The contempt was all the more serious as it was perpetrated by the prime minister, the most senior member of government. There is no precedent for a Prime Minister to have intentionally misled the House of Commons (Lower House of Parliament).”
It recommended that he should not be entitled to a former MP’s pass, which allows most former Prime Ministers and MPs automatic access to Parliament. Parliament will consider the committee’s recommendation on Monday.
When asked about the report’s conclusions, a spokesman for Sunak said the prime minister had not read it but believed the committee had properly conducted the inquiry and “that it would not be right to denigrate or criticize the work”. .
The committee, made up of four Conservative and three Opposition MPs, dismissed Johnson’s defense that the gatherings were within the rules and that his advisers supported his belief that they were.
Instead, Johnson was “deliberately disingenuous in attempting to reinterpret his statements to the House of Representatives to avoid their clear meaning and to restate the clear impression he wished to convey.”
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson walks outside his home in London, Britain March 22, 2023. Portal/Peter Nicholls
It said that if Johnson were still a Member of Parliament, he would have recommended a 90-day suspension from the House of Commons.
“DAMNED”
Johnson resigned from Parliament last week after seeing an advance copy of the report, calling the inquiry a “witch hunt,” a criticism he repeated after it was published.
“I was correct in believing that these events were reasonably necessary for work purposes. We have managed a pandemic,” he said in a statement.
He said the report was a “terrible day” for MPs and for democracy. “This decision means no MP is free from vendetta or expulsion on fabricated allegations from a tiny minority who want to see his or her exit from the House of Commons,” he said.
He accused the committee of using mystical powers to see things he had not seen at Downing Street, although he said he had an obligation to thank staff who were leaving or for their work on COVID-19. The committee did not accept his defense.
The Labor Party called the report “devastating”.
“While Rishi Sunak is distracted by the ongoing Tory soap opera, people are crying out for leadership on the issues they care about,” said Thangam Debbonaire, a member of Labor’s top team.
A former adviser to Johnson said the report confirmed little more than his “semi-retirement” from which he would still exercise “major influence” in the Conservative Party.
Johnson has apologized for his behavior but has repeatedly denied deliberately misleading Parliament, saying he took advice from his staff that his office was following the rules.
But the so-called Partygate marked the beginning of the end of his term as prime minister. A rebellion in the Conservative Party last year, which saw ministers resign en masse, forced him to announce his resignation in July. He left the post in September.
He resigned from Parliament last week, ending his tenure as the so-called backbench of the legislature, who continued to wield significant influence within the Conservatives that at times undermined Sunak’s authority.
They also fell out this week over the former Prime Minister’s resignation list.
Reporting by Elizabeth Piper, Alistair Smout, Andrew MacAskill, Kylie MacLellan, Muvija M and William James; Adaptation by Kate Holton, Frank Jack Daniel and Angus MacSwan
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