By Ben Kerrigan-
Boris Johnson has accepted that he misled Parliament but said there was “no evidence” he did so intentionally, insisting his statements to the Commons regarding the Partygate scandal were in “good faith”.
The former prime minister also attacked claims from the committee that his attendance of gathering would have made it obvious that he breached covid rules.
Johnson said the Committee’s reliance on photographs of the events, provide further support that this was in no sense “obvious”. Four of the five photographs relied upon by the Committee are photographs from the official No. 10 photographer.
”A suggestion that we would have held events which were “obviously” contrary to the Rules and Guidance, and allowed those events to be immortalised by the
official photographer is implausible”, he said.
He described as unprecedented and absurd, the committee’s allegation that it was reckless for him to rely on assurances that I received from trusted advisers. That allegation is unprecedented and absurd.
I was the Prime Minister of the country, working day and night to manage the Government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. It was self-evidently reasonable for me to rely on assurances that I received from my advisers. The suggestion to the contrary would have profound and debilitating implications for the future of debate in the House, and for the ability of Ministers to rely on the advice of their officials when answering questions in Parliament.
Johnson disputed the committee’s claim to have been fair, stating that the Committee has gone significantly beyond its terms of reference. This is despite the fact that the Committee has previously acknowledged that its inquiry is necessarily limited to those allegations described in the Resolution of the House referred to the Committee dated 21 April 2022 (“the Re
The committee investigating whether Mr Johnson knowingly misled parliament has published the ex-prime minister’s 52-page defence. The Committee initially received the written evidence from Mr Johnson on Monday afternoon at 2.32pm in unredacted form.
The evidence submitted had a number of errors and typos, and, a final corrected version was not submitted to the Privileges Committee until 8.02 am this morning. Redactions have been made in the published version to protect the identity of some witnesses, in consultation with Mr Johnson, particularly junior-ranking civil servants.
Johnson said that as soon as the Sue Gray investigation and the Metropolitan Police
investigation had been concluded, he corrected the record.
He said he believed and still believe that this was the earliest opportunity at which hecould make the necessary correction. It was not fair or appropriate to give a half-baked account, before the facts had been fully and properly established, including into many events about which I had no personal knowledge.
According to the former prime minister explained to the House that that is what I intended to do, and that is what I did on 25 May 2022: six days after the Police investigation had concluded, and the same day that the final Sue Gray report was published.
In his legal argument, Mr Johnson insisted he was not warned that gatherings in Downing Street during the pandemic broke lockdown rules. He said that after learning they had, he corrected the record at the “earliest opportunity”.
“So I accept that the House of Commons was misled by my statements that the rules and guidance had been followed completely at No 10,” he wrote.
“But when the statements were made, they were made in good faith and on the basis of what I honestly knew and believed at the time.
He said he “did not intentionally or recklessly mislead the House” and would “never have dreamed of doing so”.
Mr Johnson submitted his dossier of evidence to the privileges committee yesterday, while facing claims of bullying and intimidation as allies tried to discredit the probe.
Boris Johnson lashes out at ‘absurd’ Partygate inquiry claims as he defends drinking wine at work.
Absurd And Partisan Claims
Boris Johnson also attacked out at the committee of MPs investigating whether he lied over Partygate – accusing the cross-party of “absurd” and “partisan” claims against him.
Mr Johnson also claimed that he believed his staff drinking wine was within the rules – claiming he and other No 10 officials believed gathering to drink alcohol was necessary for “work purposes”.
Legally Binding
He also brought the committees attention to the at that the Guidance is not legally binding and a failure to follow the Guidance is not a criminal offence. The scope of the Committee’s
remit is exclusively concerned with assertions regarding compliance with the legally binding Regulations, not the Guidance. I of course recognise that the Resolution refers to Guidance as well as to Rules.
Given the opening three lines, the Guidance is relevant only to the extent that it assists on whether there was a breach of legal requirements in the Rules, that is the Regulations.
This is supported by the fact that the Resolution required the Committee not to begin substantive consideration of the matter until the Metropolitan Police inquiries were concluded.
The Police were Committee on 19 July 2022, §14 (“The allegations against Mr Johnson are those described in the Resolution of the House referred to the Committee on 21 April
2022”).
In its Fourth Report the Committee correctly notes that it is not conducting an investigation into “partygate”, but is concerned with establishing the facts “for the purpose of
discharging [its] obligation under the terms of the House’s resolution” (my
emphasis)
Describing as inappropriate, impermissible and fair, Boris Johnson said it is not clear what
subsequently transpired to embolden the Committee to seek unilaterally to expand its mandate. It is obviously inappropriate impermissible, and unfair