Boris Johnson addresses a parliamentary committee during a hearing into the ‘Partygate’ affair, Wednesday March 22, 2023. – / AFP
Boris Johnson insists and signs: He did not lie. The former British Prime Minister was heard by a parliamentary committee on Wednesday March 22 on the so-called ‘Partygate’ affair, these parties taking place at Downing Street in the midst of a pandemic.
Faced with the barrage of questions hurled at him for more than three hours, the 58-year-old former Conservative party leader did not give up. “I am here to tell you honestly that I have not lied to Parliament,” he said at the beginning of this televised hearing.
The stakes are high for the former leader, whose future in politics could be in jeopardy. If the committee of seven MPs, including four Tories, concludes he deliberately lied to Parliament about Downing Street parties during lockdown, Boris Johnson risks losing his MP seat.
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A few silences and hesitations
The riotous parties at Downing Street during the Covid pandemic, revealed in the press over several months, had angered Britons. Then locked up tightly, they had denounced an intolerable “double weight, two measures”.
Ahead of the hearing, the commission had published a 110-page document tracing official pronouncements by Boris Johnson and what was happening at the head of British power at the time. In May 2020, Mr Johnson “called on the whole country to play by the rules” but attended a garden party a few days later. On June 10, he “urges everyone to continue to show restraint and respect the rules,” and then on the 19th he attends a birthday party organized for him by his wife, Carrie. And in November 2020, attending a small party, still at Downing Street, he quipped that “it’s probably the most disrespectful social distancing gathering in the whole of the UK”.
On Wednesday, the commission published photos of the various rallies, testimonies, excerpts from testimonies from the time of Boris Johnson and confronted him with his contradictions. Faced with the evidence presented, he tried, despite some silence and hesitation, to answer point by point. “I have always been completely transparent with Parliament,” he said. “I apologize for inadvertently misleading Parliament, but to say I did so on purpose is completely wrong. »
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No regret
The parliamentary committee accused by Boris Johnson supporters of starting a witch hunt is having to determine whether it deliberately lied in the House of Commons, particularly when it claimed before MPs in December 2021 that “the rules have been obeyed all along” . during the pandemic.
“I accept that perfect social distancing has not been observed [à Downing Street], but that doesn’t mean what we did wasn’t in line with the rules,” defended Mr Johnson, who expressed no regret. Throughout the hearing, the former prime minister, whose defense has cost taxpayers more than £220,000 (€249,000), according to UK media, pleaded good faith.
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MPs will vote on any penalties he might face, including a suspension which, if longer than 10 days, could trigger a by-election in his constituency where his majority is close.