Boris Johnson has decided to bandage before the wound, thereby causing yet another crisis in the Conservative Party and a problem for his eternal rival, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Johnson announced on Friday that he was stepping down from his seat in the House of Commons with immediate effect. He did so after receiving the devastating push on Thursday night from the Committee on Parliamentary Privileges, which had spent months in Parliament examining his statements on the parties banned during Downing Street confinement. The then Prime Minister denied at all times that he was aware both he and his team could be breaking social distancing rules, despite dozens of advisers and senior officials attending events involving alcohol and food at a time when the Der Rest of the UK remained locked in their homes.
The commission has made it clear to Johnson that it believes he has withheld the truth from the House of Representatives and intends to recommend his suspension as an MP for more than 10 days. That was the crucial date. Partial elections for the seat of the constituency of the MP who has been warned will be triggered after ten days. In this case it was the Uxbridge constituency – which Johnson represents – and the politician decided to speed up those elections before his own local Conservative faction humiliated him from office.
The timing Johnson chose and the aggressive way in which he decided to attack the commission – “a farce tribunal,” he accused – and the Sunak government itself shows that the former prime minister has decided to overthrow his the umpteenth rebellion to lead the front Tory hardliners.
“It is very sad to be leaving Parliament, at least for the time being,” Johnson said in a statement. “I’m being forced out by a small handful of people who have no evidence to support their claims, and without the consent of even Conservative Party members, let alone the general electorate,” he accused angrily.
The former Prime Minister explained that he had received a letter from the Commission: “[En ella] It made it clear, to my surprise, that they are determined to use the trial against me to throw me out of Parliament.” “Most of the committee members – particularly the Chair – had already made deeply biased remarks about my guilt before they even made it seen the evidence,” Johnson said. “In retrospect, it was naïve and trusting of me to believe that these procedures could be remotely helpful or fair,” he added.
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