BO WOE
BORIS Johnson was told he would be suspended from Parliament for 90 DAYS for deliberately misleading MPs - as he hit out at the Partygate report's "deranged" conclusions.
The Privileges Committee today found Mr Johnson committed "serious contempt" - when he insisted no lockdown rules were broken.
5
5
The 14-month probe, headed up by Labour MP Harriet Harman, today ruled that the ex-PM misled MPs over lockdown-breaking gatherings in No10, the first PM to do so.
In a 30,000-word paper, the committee of MPs skewered him for repeatedly claiming that no rules were broken.
Today the former PM hit out at the results as "complete triple", a "charade", and "rubbish", blasting them of "wilfully missing the point".
And he accused their arguments of being "so threadbare that it belongs in one of Bernard Jenkin’s nudist colonies."
Mr Jenkin, a member of the committee who published the report, last night was revealed to himself have been at his own lockdown gathering.
Today's damning probe concluded that BoJo misled the House of Commons on five occasions, including:
- He had knowledge of the Covid rules and breaches that happened in No10
- When he said the rules were followed at all times, and when he failed to tell them when the rules were broken
- BoJo was "deliberately disingenuous" to the committee and he had "closed his mind to the truth" - but continued to protest his innocence
- When he had tried to intimidate the committee with a "campaign of abuse" and hit out at the MPs on it
- When he attacked and revealed the findings of the probe last week, before they had even been released
It came as it was revealed the by-elections for his replacement will take place on July 20.
The damning probe said that he should be kicked out of Parliament for 90 days - far more than the 30 days that Margaret Ferrier got for travelling across the country knowing she had Covid.
They were originally preparing to dish out a lesser punishment, but after last Friday's rants they increased it.
Ahead of today’s report Mr Johnson gazumped the expected result by quitting as an MP - so he can't actually be suspended.
MPs also said that he should have his ex-PM pass into Parliament taken off him too.
Furious BoJo has dismissed the investigation as a “kangaroo court” and a “witch hunt”.
And today he came out with another huge rant against the committee.
He said of claims he he misled MPs: "This is rubbish. It is a lie. In order to reach this deranged conclusion, the Committee is obliged to say a series of things that are patently absurd, or contradicted by the facts.
"I believed, correctly, that these events were reasonably necessary for work purposes.
"We were managing a pandemic. We had hundreds of staff engaged in what was sometimes a round-the-clock struggle against covid. Their morale mattered for that fight. It was important for me to thank them.
" But don’t just listen to me. Take it from the Metropolitan Police. The police investigated my role at all of those events. In no case did they find that what I had done was unlawful. Above all it did not cross my mind – as I spoke in the House of Commons – that the events were unlawful.
"Why would we have had an official photographer if we believed we were breaking the law?
" We didn’t believe that what we were doing was wrong, and after a year of work the Privileges Committee has found not a shred of evidence that we did."
5
What did the Partygate report claim?
Boris knowingly misled MPs over Partygate
- The nub of the 108-page report is that Boris Johnson deliberately misled MPs when he claimed no rules were broken in No10. The Committee says he misled the Commons in five separate ways.
Boris could have received a 90-day Commons suspension
- Had Boris not resigned as an MP, the recommended sanction would have been a 90-day Commons suspension. The Committee says they originally decided on sanction strong enough to trigger a byelection - 10 days minimum - but they decided to drastically upgrade this when he began accusing them of a “witch hunt” in public statements. All recommended sanctions are voted on by MPs.
Boris may have his ex-MP pass blocked
- The Committee wants Boris to lose his ex-MP parliamentary pass in light of his statements attacking the findings. John Bercow had this sanction applied last year for bullying.
MPs accuse Boris of ‘closing his mind to the truth’
- During their 14-month inquiry the MPs accuse Mr Johnson of making “denials and explanations so disingenuous that they were by their very nature deliberate attempts to mislead the Committee and the House”. They say this amounted to effectively having “closed his mind to the truth”.
Boris is having none of it
- In a defiant statement today, Mr Johnson tore into the Committee’s findings and branded the report as a “charade”. Decrying a political stitch-up, he blasts: “This is a dreadful day for MPs and for democracy.”
5
BoJo said they thought he was "Mystic Meg" to have seen a party happening on his way up to bed.
And he hit out at the Labour chair of the committee, Harriet Haran, for having "twisted the truth to suit" her purposes.
He added: "This is a dreadful day for MPs and for democracy. This decision means that no MP is free from vendetta, or expulsion on trumped up charges by a tiny minority who want to see him or her gone from the Commons.
"For the Privileges Committee to use its prerogatives in this anti-democratic way, to bring about what is intended to be the final knife-thrust in a protracted political assassination – that is beneath contempt."
And in a swipe that could be a hint he will try and stand again in another seat, he warned: "It is for the people of this country to decide who sits in parliament, not Harriet Harman."
MPs are set to vote on what sanction to dish out on Monday - which will be Boris Johnson's birthday.
The MPs probe looked at Government emails, photos, WhatsApp messages and even took a trip to No10 to have a poke around the building.
But last night, in a surprise twist, it was revealed that one of the top committee members himself was revealed to have attended his own lockdown party.
The former prime minister called for Sir Bernard Jenkin to resign and wrote to the committee last night claiming that he should have recused himself from the investigation.
Sir Bernard is alleged to have attended an event at which drinks and cake were served to mark his wife's 65th birthday in December 2020.
The Sun has approached Sir Bernard for comment. He told he did not “attend any drinks parties during lockdown”.
Most read in The Sun
When pressed he said he could not “recall” if any drinks had been consumed.
In a raging statement he said: “If this is true it is outrageous and a total contempt of parliament.
BoJo said of the latest twist in the saga: "The Committee cannot possibly believe the conclusions of their own report – because it has now emerged that Sir Bernard Jenkin attended at least one “birthday event”, on Dec 8 2020 – the birthday of his wife Anne – when it is alleged that alcohol and food were served and the numbers exceeded six indoors.
Read More on The Sun
"Why was it illegal for me to thank staff and legal for Sir Bernard to attend his wife’s birthday party?
"The hypocrisy is rank. Like Harriet Harman, he should have recused himself from the inquiry, since he is plainly conflicted."
5
Topics