Boris Johnson may have misled Parliament on multiple occasions, according to a preliminary report by a committee investigating whether he lied over the so-called “Partygate” scandal.
(Bloomberg) — Boris Johnson may have misled Parliament on multiple occasions, according to a preliminary report by a committee investigating whether he lied over the so-called “Partygate” scandal.
Parliament’s privileges committee was sharply critical of the former UK prime minister as it confirmed that he would give evidence in the week beginning March 20 examining his response to allegations of rule-breaking in 10 Downing Street during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In one case, the committee said it received evidence that Johnson described an event at No. 10 as “probably the most unsocially distanced gathering in the UK right now”.
The partygate scandal of lockdown-rule-breaking parties precipitated Johnson’s downfall last year. The initial report by the seven-member, cross-party committee — which comprises four Conservative MPs, two Labour MPs and one lawmaker from the Scottish National Party — included fresh photographs of the gatherings.
“The evidence strongly suggests that breaches of guidance would have been obvious to Mr Johnson at the time he was at the gatherings,” the report said, before laying out details of occasions when the then-prime minister may have misled Parliament or failed to correct the record.
“There is evidence that those who were advising Mr Johnson about what to say to the press and in the House were themselves struggling to contend that some gatherings were within the rules,” the committee said.
British politicians who are found to have misled Parliament are ordinarily expected to resign from any ministerial post. On that basis, the privileges committee investigation was seen by many as an obstacle to any potential political comeback by Johnson. However, that possibility has faded recently, particularly in the aftermath of current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s success in negotiating a new Brexit deal with the European Union.
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