Partygate: Boris Johnson ‘deliberately misled’ British Parliament

Unheard of for British democracy: Boris Johnson was found by a parliamentary inquiry on Thursday to have lied to parliament over “participation” during his time in power, prompting the former prime minister to cry “political assassination”.

• Read more: Boris Johnson slams the door of Parliament after being caught up in “partygate”.

• Read more: Boris Johnson has been targeted by fresh allegations of breaching anti-Covid rules

• Read more: Boris Johnson has one more child, at least his eighth

The former Tory leader, who will turn 59, handed back his MP seat last week after the damning findings of the inquiry into parties in Downing Street during anti-Covid lockdowns were announced.

His successor, Rishi Sunak, now has to manage a fierce opponent whose political future is uncertain, and he once again vented his anger on Thursday.

In a long, highly aggressive press release, he reaffirms his innocence and denounces the commission’s “false” and “sick” conclusions.

He accused the latter of wanting to deliver the “last stab of political assassination”.

The commission was to determine whether Boris Johnson had lied by repeatedly insisting in the House of Commons that all hygiene restrictions had been respected in Downing Street during Covid. The case has already earned him fines from the police and contributed heavily to his ouster from power last summer.

“There is no precedent of a prime minister deliberately misleading the House,” and “repeatedly,” the commission concludes.

Along with Donald Trump’s remarks, the report also condemned Boris Johnson’s scathing resignation letter as an “attack on British democratic institutions”.

No longer sitting, Boris Johnson is no longer high risk. The commission says it would have recommended a 90-day suspension had he not walked out. His resignation will result in a by-election for his north London constituency on July 20.

• Listen to Loïc Tassé’s editorial in the live broadcast of Benoit Dutrizac’s show every day at 12:30 p.m. via QUB-Radio :

The report, which is due to be submitted to a vote of delegates on Monday, however calls for former prime ministers to withdraw their entry into the parliament premises.

Some Tory MPs close to Boris Johnson have already called for a vote against the report, while Labor opposition number two Angela Rayner compared the former leader to a child who “throws his toys out of the pram because he’s ‘caught'”.

The Association of People Affected by COVID-19 responded by saying Boris Johnson “should never be allowed to run”.

“This is an incredibly dark day in a dark chapter in the history of Westminster,” Scottish Independence Prime Minister Hamza Yousaf said.

Boris Johnson, who was questioned for more than three hours in March, said he “made up his mind” that he had not knowingly lied. But according to a YouGov poll published on Thursday, 69% of Britons think the opposite. 51% of people voted Conservative in 2019.

A year after his resignation from Downing Street, the former journalist and London mayor has three years marred by scandals, and his exit prevents him from returning to power until next year’s scheduled assembly elections.

He reopened the gaping wounds of the Conservative Party, which had been in power for thirteen years but often outperformed Labor in the polls.

Boris Johnson has influential allies there and a critical aura that underpins his historic victory in the 2019 general election and then Brexit.

Hostilities with the government of Rishi Sunak, whose former finance minister was already seen as a renegade by Mr Johnson’s resignation last summer, have now been made public.

The prime minister has yet to respond to the report, but his spokesman has defended the commission’s work as “formally constituted”.

If he remains the center of political and media attention, Boris Johnson’s true potential for harm remains uncertain. Only two MPs have resigned from parliament for a week, with some fearing a mass exodus that could weaken Rishi Sunak’s government.