20:17
Boris Johnson resigns as an MP with immediate effect after receiving the Partygate report.
Blimey … I blinked and I missed it …
In a lengthy statement, Johnson say he is quitting his seat because he is “bewildered and appalled” at the Privileges Committee’s investigation into whether he misled MPs over Partygate.
He says he received a letter from the committee which is “making it clear, much to my amazement, that they are determined to use the proceedings against me to drive me out of Parliament”.
Boris Johnson’s resignation statement is long - over 1,000 words. In it, he appears to take a parting swipe at Rishi Sunak’s government.
Donald Trump is the first former president ever to be criminally prosecuted by the government he once headed.
In a post on Truth Social on Thursday, Mr Trump said he had been summoned to appear on Tuesday afternoon at a federal court in Miami, Florida, where the charges against him will be read.
“I never thought it possible that such a thing could happen to a former president of the United States,” Mr Trump wrote.
Boris Johnson received a police fine for Covid lockdown breaches in the partygate scandal.
The fine makes Boris Johnson the first sitting British Prime Minister to have broken the law.
Presumably, the “warning” letter from the PPC was to inform him that, when Prime Minister, he had been found guilty of deliberately misleading parliament and was therefore at risk of being banned, by members, from the House.
“I am bewildered and appalled that I can be forced out, anti-democratically, by a committee chaired and managed, by Harriet Harman, with such egregious bias.”
Who do these people think they are? They are subject to laws, rules and procedures like all citizens and, eventually, no amount of bully-boy blustering is going to stop the application of the law.
Absolutely, and after everything they’ve done they still have the nerve to play the victim
I think he did mislead Parliament and he did it deliberately, in his arrogance believing he’s Jolly Johnson who everyone loves, and above the law
I hope that’s what the enquiry says. He’s disgraced our country and the role of PM and he’s not fit to be in Parliament
And still claiming Brexit as the reason people are questioning him?
As if he ever believed in it in the first place, or thought it could be a success ?
I think he just used Brexit as a populist ploy, despite knowing it couldn’t work, out of self-interest to further his career and that he’s just an opportunist with no real beliefs or principles
The detail of the report remains under wraps but his claim implies that the committee has told him it was likely to recommend he was suspended for 10 or more sitting days.
That would trigger a recall petition in his seat, meaning a possible by-election.
It is important to note that this was a draft report, setting out a likely sanction.
The process of the Privileges Committee is far from over. It was set up by a vote of the House of Commons, not the committee itself, so the report will still be published, as early as next week.
OTOH, John Howell, Conservative MP for Henley, will not stand as a party candidate in the next general election, which can take place no later than January 2025.
Mr Howell became the MP for Henley in 2008 when Mr Johnson vacated the seat to become London mayor that year.
Johnson could seek to run again in his former seat, which happens to be right next door to where he lives:
Has to be a case of jump before you’re pushed
In less than 24 hours after receiving a letter from the privilege committee. I bet they spelt out his options to him .
The evidence against him must be colossal.
If they could just cancel some of Johnsons old cronies honours list it would tidy things up nicely.
That’s very good, but I don’t wish the SOB luck, May karma catch up with him and his future be wretched
And I’m a horror film fan. And we all know that when you think you’ve finally defeated the evil being and are celebrating, it revives itself and pops up again for another go!
That’s very good, but I don’t wish the SOB luck, May karma catch up with him and his future be wretched 