British MPs vote on Monday on a damning report that found ex-prime minister Boris Johnson deliberately lied to parliament about lockdown-breaking parties, in what the government hopes will be the final chapter in the damaging “Partygate” scandal.
The parliamentary vote is being held on Johnson’s 59th birthday as the wounded former leader ponders his next move, with allies predicting a future return to the electoral fray.
It also comes at a time of mounting political problems for Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government as stubbornly high inflation and constantly rising interest rates inflict economic pain on voters.
The populist architect of Brexit, Johnson led the Conservative party to a landslide victory at the last general election in December 2019.
But he was forced to quit as prime minister last July due to Partygate and a string of other scandals.
Johnson has rejected the report by parliament’s Privileges Committee, claiming he has been the victim of a stitch-up by political opponents and a “kangaroo court”.
The committee in a scathing 106-page report on Thursday found him guilty of “repeated contempts (of parliament) and… seeking to undermine the parliamentary process”.
‘Indefensible’
“The contempt was all the more serious because it was committed by the prime minister, the most senior member of the government,” the report said, adding there was “no precedent for a prime minister having been found to have deliberately misled the house”.
Even as the vote looked set to draw a line under the Partygate scandal, another video emerged Sunday of Tory party officials partying in December 2020 during lockdown.
Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove apologized for the Covid rule breach at a time when the public was banned from socializing or meeting loved ones.
He told the BBC the footage was “terrible” and “indefensible”.
Johnson could have faced a 90-day suspension and the humiliation of having to run for re-election in his constituency had he not quit as a lawmaker on June 9 after receiving an advance copy of the report.
A few of his close allies are expected to vote against the report, but they are said to be unconcerned about the recommended sanction of removing his parliamentary pass.
Johnson has reportedly privately urged supporters not to vote against the report, arguing the sanctions have no practical effect.
Conservative MP and Johnson loyalist Jacob Rees-Mogg predicted that the ex-premier might eventually stage a comeback.
“Perhaps, after the next election, Boris Johnson will return to the fray with a new electoral mandate,” he wrote on Saturday in the right-leaning Daily Telegraph.
“His undimmed ebullience and joie de vivre, with a renewed sympathy from the electorate, many of whom think the privilege committee over-egged its pudding, leave him as a powerful force in politics,” he added.
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Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was found responsible for deliberately misleading fellow legislators over the parties during the pandemic lockdown, according to a UK parliamentary committee report published Thursday.
Had Johnson not resigned last week, the committee would have suspended him for 90 days for repeated parliamentary contempt.
“The contempt was all the more serious because it was committed by the Prime Minister, the most senior member of the government,” the Privileges Committee wrote in its report.
“There is no precedent for a Prime Minister having been found to have deliberately misled the House.”
As he submitted his resignation, Johnson claimed that he was forced out of the legislative house ahead of the report — led by Labour MP Harriet Harman — which found that the former PM “committed a serious contempt” of parliament, violating the COVID-19 directions by holding illegal gatherings at Downing Street.
However, Johnson maintained that the rules were followed all the time.
“He misled the House on an issue of the greatest importance to the House and to the public, and did so repeatedly,” the MPs wrote.
Johnson also misled the committee when he presented evidence in his defence, according to the MPs.
The probe was initiated during the COVID lockdown when Johnson was the PM and police reported to have found violations of his own rules.
What is the Privileges Committee?
There are several committees that examine issues about laws and policies in greater detail and this one was formed in 2013.
The House of Commons Privileges Committee looks into the matters that may cases which “may prevent or hinder” the work of the legislative house.
The matters include MPs violating or not abiding by the rules and so on.
A similar investigation was conducted against the former PM to look at whether he misled members about what he knew about parties held in Downing Street during the COVID pandemic.
The privileges in the committee’s name is added because it deals with the privileges that MPs are entitled to such as immunity from legal prosecution for anything said in Parliament, to allow MPs to speak freely.
Johnson called the report a “protracted political assassination”.
He also said while he personally attended five of the events considered by the committee, he “honestly believed that these events were lawful work gatherings.”
In an interim report published in early March, the committee said “the evidence strongly suggested breaches of coronavirus rules in No 10 would have been obvious to the former PM Johnson.”
The committee said it had identified at least four occasions where he may have misled MPs, including when he told parliament in December 2021 that no rules or guidance were broken — while later investigations by Gray and the police found otherwise.
