THE Privileges Committee has concluded that former prime minister Boris Johnson deliberately misled the House of Commons.
A 30,000 word report on partygate and whether or not Johnson had misled Parliament was released on Thursday morning.
We’ve picked out four of the most damning lines.
90-day suspension
The report noted that it is “impossible” for a sanction to be imposed as Johnson has already resigned as an MP.
Nonetheless, it states what would have happened had this not happened.
The report reads: “We put on record that if he had not resigned his seat, we would have recommended that he be suspended from the service of the House for 90 days for repeated contempts and for seeking to undermine the parliamentary process.”
Attack on the committee
In his resignation speech, Johnson referred to the Committee as a “kangaroo court” and described the investigation into him as a “witch hunt”.
An entire segment of the report was dedicated to what Johnson had said about the committee.
Paragraph 222 reads: “We note that Mr Johnson does not merely criticise the fairness of the Committee’s procedures; he also attacks in very strong, indeed vitriolic, terms the integrity, honesty and honour of its members.”
It continued: “We consider that these statements are completely unacceptable. In our view this conduct, together with the egregious breach of confidentiality, is a serious further contempt.”
Gathering on May 20, 2020
The report states Johnson attended a gathering in the garden of No 10 in which people were told to “bring your own booze”.
Johnson said he did not believe this broke rules or guidance as it served as a bid to “boost morale” which “was essential for work purposes”.
However, the report states: “The social nature of the gathering was indicated by the high number of people invited, with some attendees from outside No. 10 as well as Mr Johnson’s wife (who we consider it is obvious cannot be described as an ‘absolutely necessary participant’) and the installation in the garden of trestle tables with alcohol available.
“There is evidence that the number of people in attendance increased during the time that Mr Johnson was at the gathering.”
A ‘campaign of abuse’
The committee said Johnson's statements about the Committee amounted to "an attack on our democratic institutions."
The report found: “There is no doubt that he was insincere in his attempts to distance himself from the campaign of abuse and intimidation of committee members.
“This is in our view constitutes a further significant contempt.”
