And he didn’t lie just once — he lied over and over again.
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson deliberately mislead the UK parliament over lockdown parties at Number 10, according to a committee of MPs. Their damning report (released this morning) says he wilfully misled the House, the committee, impugned the committee, and was “complicit in the campaign of abuse and attempted intimidation of the Committee.” Such an incrimination is unheard of in British politics.
A damning end to the partygate scandal
The report, whose ruinous contents are being combed over by the British political press this morning, adds that it would have recommended Johnson be suspended from the House for 90 days, had he not preemptively resigned as an MP last week. It also recommends that Johnson not receive a pass that allows former MPs access to Parliament — and reveals that two MPs on the committee pushed for the far more serious reprimand of expelling Johnson from the House of Commons.
“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. “There is no precedent for a Prime Minister having been found to have deliberately misled the House.”
“He misled the House on an issue of the greatest importance to the House and to the public, and did so repeatedly,” it continued. It noted that Johnson lied even while presenting evidence in his defense to the committee.
It’s an extraordinary turn of events for Johnson, who won a landslide victory for his Conservative party less than four years ago.
The Number 10 lockdown parties scandal
The report marks the finale of an extended scandal since the revelation that Johnson, along with a number of his colleagues, hosted numerous illegal parties and gatherings during the Covid-19 lockdown. At the time, the law as laid down by Johnson’s government meant that the rest of the country was banned from all such activity. The period was marked by intense suffering as families were unable to bid farewell to dying loved ones, women gave birth alone with partners banned from attending, and practically every normal function of day-to-day life was suspended.
How Boris Johnson finally stepped down
Boris Johnson’s tenure as Prime Minister ended in disgrace, but incredibly, it wasn’t the partygate scandal that spelled his final downfall. He resigned in disgrace last July after two extraordinary days that saw 60 of his Conservative lawmakers resign in outrage over his handling of an MP who Johnson appointed to a key disciplinary role — even though he knew he’d been accused of sexual assault.
Johnson’s disinterest in the welfare of his colleagues and employees was all the more stark in light of the fact that one in five people in the U.K. Parliament has reportedly been subjected to sexual harassment.
Johnson’s attacks on the committee
Johnson’s attacks on members of the committee — and the validity of its process— were also addressed in today’s report, which said Johnson “attacks in very strong, indeed vitriolic, terms the integrity, honesty and honor of its members.”
“This attack on a committee carrying out its remit from the democratically elected House itself amounts to an attack on our democratic institutions.”
It noted that Johnson’s behavior in this regard also amounts to a “serious further contempt”.
Johnson responds to the report
In a fiery retort, Johnson has called the committee a “kangaroo court,” bent on finding him “guilty, regardless of the facts.”
In language already familiar to observers across the pond, he said the report’s publication marked “a dreadful day for democracy,” adding: “This report is a charade. I was wrong to believe in the committee or its good. faith. The terrible truth is that it is not I who has twisted the truth to suit my purposes.”
