Boris Johnson deliberately misled parliament

Reuters  :
Boris Johnson deliberately misled the British parliament in an unprecedented way over rule-breaking parties at his office during COVID-19 lockdowns, a committee said on Thursday in a damning verdict that further tarnished the former prime minister
Almost a year ago, Johnson was talking about remaining prime minister into the 2030s. But the privileges committee – the main disciplinary body for lawmakers – said on Thursday he should now be stripped of having automatic access to parliament.

The committee also accused Johnson of being “complicit in a campaign of abuse and attempted intimidation” towards them.

In typically combative style Johnson, who in 2019 led the Conservatives to a landslide election victory, dismissed the report as “a lie” and “a charade”, and accused committee members of waging a vendetta against him.

The stand-off will do little to heal the deep divisions in the Conservatives and can only pile pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose push to try to boost Britain’s flagging economy is being overshadowed by the ongoing Johnson drama.

The more than 100-page report detailed six events held at Downing Street, the prime minister’s offices and residence.

“We conclude that in deliberately misleading the House Mr Johnson committed a serious contempt,” the committee said:
“The contempt was all the more serious because it was committed by the prime minister, the most senior member of the government. There is no precedent for a prime minister having been found to have deliberately misled the House (of Commons, lower house of parliament).”

It recommended that he should not be entitled to a former member’s pass, which enables most former prime ministers and lawmakers to gain automatic access to parliament.

Parliament will consider the committee’s recommendation on Monday.

Asked about the report’s conclusions, a spokesman for Sunak said the prime minister had not as yet read it but he believed the committee had carried out the inquiry properly and “that it would not be right to traduce or criticise the work” of it.

The committee, made up of four Conservatives and three opposition lawmakers, rejected Johnson’s defence that the gatherings were within the rules and that his advisers had supported his belief that was the case.