UK House of Commons Committee of Privileges inquiry - Update - MPs agree that Boris Johnson's allies tried to undermine partygate probe

Controversial: Politics & Govt Politics & Govt: In The News
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Partygate played a key part in Boris Johnson’s ousting from Downing Street, and hasn’t finished with him yet. The former prime minister still faces an inquiry by the Commons Privileges Committee over whether he misled MPs over the scandal.

The probe, commissioned by the Commons in April last year, has largely dropped out of the headlines since Mr Johnson left office. But it is about to come roaring back onto the political agenda, with reports that hearings could begin in the coming weeks.

Recap: why is he being investigated?

Opposition parties have accused Mr Johnson of misleading MPs about what he knew about gatherings in government buildings during Covid lockdowns. On several occasions after the Partygate scandal emerged in late 2021, he told the Commons that pandemic rules had been followed.

But an investigation by senior official Sue Gray later found widespread rule-breaking had in fact taken place. And a police inquiry led to fines for 83 people, including Mr Johnson himself, for attending law-breaking events.

The ex-prime minister has admitted his original statements to MPs have since proved incorrect - but has said he believed them to be true at the time. He has denied deliberately misleading Parliament, and said he has “absolutely nothing, frankly, to hide”.

What will the committee decide?

The seven MPs on the committee will examine whether Mr Johnson committed a “contempt of Parliament” - described by the parliamentary rulebook as anything that prevents Parliament from functioning properly.

Who sits on the committee?

The Conservative-majority committee is chaired by senior Labour MP Harriet Harman, a former cabinet and shadow cabinet minister.

The other members are Labour’s Yvonne Fovargue, the SNP’s Allan Dorans, and Tories Andy Carter, Sir Bernard Jenkin, Alberto Costa, and Sir Charles Walker.

What evidence will they gather?

The committee has contacted witnesses to submit written evidence by 7 February. They will be able to submit evidence anonymously, with committee staff verifying their identity. The submissions will be shared with Mr Johnson, with the committee reserving the right to conceal their identity where “appropriate”.

The committee has requested a trove of documents, including Mr Johnson’s diaries and briefing notes given to him before appearances in the Commons. It has also asked for entry logs into government buildings, emails and WhatsApp messages about resignations, and pictures taken by Downing Street’s official photographer.

At some point, Mr Johnson himself will be asked to undergo a public grilling by the committee, which is expected to be televised live.

What could happen to him?

The committee will recommend whether Mr Johnson committed a contempt, and if so how he should be punished, to the whole House of Commons for a final decision. Possible punishments range from ordering him to apologise to suspending him from the Commons for a period of time.

If they decide to suspend Mr Johnson for more than 10 days, it would trigger a “recall petition” in his Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency, a process that could potentially lead to a by-election.

The outcome of the inquiry will be pivotal for Mr Johnson’s political future. Any finding that he misled Parliament could sink his hopes - never ruled out - of one day returning to high office.

A finding of contempt, however, would also be a major headache for Rishi Sunak - forcing him to decide whether to tell his MPs how to vote.

I hope that the evidence against BJ is damning … :expressionless:

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Me too, but I expect the chumocracy will protect him :face_with_symbols_over_mouth:

But at least we are free of the shame of having this corrupt, self serving, amoral man as our PM

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Just one of many hypocritical Oafs.

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Ain’t that the truth :face_with_symbols_over_mouth:

But I was just so angry, ashamed and humiliated that my country could elect such a man and then some people wanting to keep him in office for their own ends despite it being very obvious what he was

I felt it belied any pretence we have of being a fair minded democratic country and I cringed at how we’d be perceived internationally with such a man representing us. And it do isn’t say much for the principles of our fellow citizens who tried to defend him

And how could we criticise other countries on corruption and chumocracy when we had such a person at our own helm?

I don’t think he should be allowed to be an MP but I am just so relieved he’s not PM

I hope they’d plenty of evidence against him and karma well and truly catches up with him

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Sat 18 Feb 2023 17.26 GMT

Follow-up exchanges with witnesses working with the inquiry are now taking place as the privileges committee, led by Labour grandee Harriet Harman, works its way through a huge tranche of evidence handed to it by the government at the end of last year.

One of its focuses has become the so-called “Abba party” held in Johnson’s flat above 11 Downing Street on 13 November 2020, a gathering that included food, alcohol and music allegedly so loud that it could be heard downstairs in the press office. Johnson, the then prime minister, is known to have been present for at least part of the evening.

The gathering was not investigated by Sue Gray, the senior civil servant who examined reports of rule breaking during Covid lockdowns. Crucially, however, it is now central to the privileges probe because Johnson was asked about it directly in the House of Commons. His response, which he continues to stand by, was that “whatever happened, the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times”.

It is one of four specific denials of rule breaking Johnson gave to MPs that the committee is examining. At the time of the flat gathering, the second national lockdown was in place requiring people to stay at home. Indoor gatherings of two or more people from other households were prohibited except for permitted exceptions, including where it was “reasonably necessary … for work purposes”.

The gathering came in the hours after the departure of Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain, two of Johnson’s most senior advisers, who left after losing a power struggle with Johnson’s then fiancee and now wife, Carrie Johnson.

Gray’s report stated that “a meeting was held” in the flat to discuss “the handling of their departure” and that five special advisers attended. Johnson joined them at about 8pm. However, Gray said she had only collected limited information because she had been interrupted by the start of the Metropolitan police’s own inquiries into rule breaking. Once the police had finished, Gray concluded it was “not appropriate or proportionate” to return to the incident.

Johnson’s denial that rules were broken in the flat that evening mean it is a key to the privileges committee’s work on whether MPs were misled. It has also emerged that all witnesses working with the inquiry have continued to cooperate, despite the fact that their identity may be passed on to the former prime minister when he is asked to respond to the claims against him. Names will only be omitted in “exceptional circumstances”, but it is understood that no witnesses have yet asked for their name to be redacted.

It is my understanding that BJ’s supply of pants was severely affected by fire during this period … :jeans::fire:

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Boris Johnson may have misled Parliament over Partygate on four occasions, MPs investigating his conduct say.

Evidence strongly suggests breaches of coronavirus rules would have been “obvious” to Mr Johnson, the privileges committee said in an update.

On Friday, the committee published its initial report, including some previously unseen photos of Downing Street parties.

The report says the Commons may have been misled multiple times and Mr Johnson “did not correct the statements” at the “earliest opportunity”, as would have been expected from an MP.

Mr Johnson had “personal knowledge” about lockdown gatherings in No 10 which he could have disclosed to MPs, the committee said.

The report found “evidence strongly suggests that breaches of guidance would have been obvious to Mr Johnson at the time he was at the gatherings”.

It also said there was “evidence that those who were advising Mr Johnson about what to say to the press and in the House were themselves struggling to contend that some gatherings were within the rules”.

The committee said it will take the findings of a report by senior civil Sue Gray into account.

BJ commented “There is no evidence in the report that I knowingly or recklessly misled parliament, or that I failed to update parliament in a timely manner.”

… but he’s a notorious liar … :man_shrugging:

The report highlighted four occasions where Mr Johnson may have misled parliament:

  • When he told the Commons on 8 December 2021 no rules or guidance had been broken in Number 10, after Ms Gray and the Met Police had “already come to the conclusion that was not correct”
  • When, in the same statement, he relied upon statements from his advisers that the rules had not been broken instead of using other evidence available to him
  • When he failed to tell the Commons about his own “personal knowledge” of the gatherings where the rules or guidance had been broken
  • When he gave the impression that there needed to be an investigation by Ms Gray to establish whether any rules had been broken
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He’s just a bad liar.

Starmer and Sunak are much better at it.

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At least Boris has a good memory. :icon_wink:

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Tory support for Boris Johnson is draining away tonight as party grandees likened his response to a cross-party parliamentary inquiry into whether he misled MPs over “Partygate” to the lies of former US president Donald Trump.

Several Conservative MPs in senior positions reacted with disbelief after Johnson and his dwindling band of allies questioned the work of the independent Commons privileges committee and accused it of an “outrageous level of bias”, after it said on Friday there was a significant volume of evidence suggesting that the former PM may have misled parliament.

Referring to Johnson and his backers, a senior MP who is well informed about Partygate said: “They have gone full Trump. It is wicked. Where will this end? They are desperate.” Another grandee said Johnson was “just like Trump, saying black is white, white is black”.

Tobias Ellwood, Tory chair of the defence select committee, said the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, had shown real leadership with last week’s deal on the Northern Ireland protocol, but warned that the progress risked being undermined by Johnson. In a reference to the ex-PM’s behaviour, Ellwood added: “If we now stay united and disciplined we could win the general election but not if this latest distraction turns into a Trumpian drag anchor.”

Other Tories in high positions in the party said Johnson may have committed contempt of parliament in the past 48 hours alone – by attacking, deriding and undermining the work of a committee which was specifically authorised by the Commons to look into whether he had told the truth to MPs.

Sir Bob Neill, Tory chair of the all-party justice select committee and a lawyer, told the Observer: “It is wrong for anyone to try to undermine the work of a parliamentary committee.”

Johnson’s friends claim that the appointment by Labour leader Keir Starmer of former civil servant Sue Gray – who conducted the inquiry into Downing Street lockdown parties last year – as his chief of staff, showed that Partygate was a politically inspired plot to oust a Brexit-supporting PM and to benefit Labour.

MPs backing Johnson plan to table urgent questions in the Commons on Monday about Gray’s appointment, which one told the Observer they regarded as a “constitutional outrage that completely undermines the civil service”.

BJ and his coterie do what they do best - malign, obfuscate and prevaricate … :roll_eyes:

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Both the conservatives and labour held meetings with food and drink being used. You see the photographs in the press at the time. Boris and wine & Keir with beer. Partygate or not both were wrong when we were not allowed to meet out family and friends. Please remember it is not just one political party involved in this, there were two of them.

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On the one hand:

On the other:

At least 14 lockdown breaches.

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Surely Johnson is being condemned more for misleading and lying to parliament than for there having been parties at number 10? And for me, the worst of this whole affair is how it demonstrates Johnson’s very flawed and very self-focused judgement. The initial bad judgement was letting all these parties go ahead with no attempt to minimize them (shorter events, less of them, less drink, better behaviour). But his repeated attempts to lie his way out is awful judgement. He would have been better coming clean early, using the pressure of pandemic work on the team as an excuse, and not lying his way into a corner. The fact that is what he did shows his contempt for parliament, thinking he can blag it as opposed to doing the right thing.
In comparison Starmer had a few beers. End of. So sorry, no comparison.

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Woz Boz ever in danger, in the ozpital???

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That is true, but there was only one party in government and making the rules for the rest of us. And only one Prime Minister. And for the Prime Minister to break the rules he is imposing on everyone else is truly disgusting

And the police decided the Keir thingy was work related and no action required, but Johnson’s birthday party wasn’t

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and 126 police fines were issues across multiple event at downing street - which is kind of different from the police agreeing no rules were broken by Starmer. So I agree, not the same

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The Prime Minister said on Monday he would not exert pressure on his Conservative colleagues to go easy on his predecessor as he faces a possible suspension.

Mr Johnson is scheduled for a televised appearance before the Privilege Committee some time next week so he can be questioned over whether he deliberately misled the Commons.

If the cross-party group of MPs rules he did, they could recommend a suspension that may ultimately lead to a by-election for Mr Johnson in his Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency.

Asked if he was not concerned that a suspension of more than 10 days could trigger a by-election, Mr Sunak added: “This is a matter for Parliament, for the House.

“It’s not right for the Government to get involved.”

The proof of the pudding is in the eating … :expressionless:

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If just having a beer whilst working constituted a “Party”, no wonder folks have been reluctant to align for the last few years :icon_wink:

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Its a witch-hunt they are scared to death he might stage a comeback.

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Boris Johnson will give public evidence about whether he misled MPs over Partygate on 22 March, the Privileges Committee has confirmed.

The former prime minister will be questioned by the cross-party committee from 14:00 GMT in a televised session.

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I certainly hope Boris is found guilty as charged! When it comes to over-privileged, self-indulgent and massively corrupt, he should win a prize. He’s set a new standard for the Tory party and it’s become the norm to line their pockets and laugh at those who don’t have a couple of million in their back pockets. The sooner the Tories are out, the better.

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