Boris Johnson seen for first time since Partygate defence dossier published
Boris Johnson accepts 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 committee investigating whether Mr Johnson knowingly misled parliament has published the ex-prime minister’s 52-page defence.
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.
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Gary Lineker shares thinly-veiled dig at Boris Johnson
Gary Lineker has shared a thinly-veiled tweet about “folk” who “constantly tell fibs” less than an hour after Boris Johnson’s legal defence over partygate was published.
It comes after Lineker, 62, was briefly suspended as host of Match Of The Day this month over his criticism of the government’s asylum policy on Twitter.
The former England striker tweeted: “When folk constantly tell fibs, it’s really difficult to know when they’re telling the truth. I imagine it’s even a challenge for themselves.”
Lineker did not make it clear who he was referring to but Twitter users speculated the post was about Mr Johnson.
Boris should resign, says Covid families group
The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice said it was “obvious” that Boris Johnson deliberately misled parliament and should resign as an MP. The group tweeted: “His claim that he did so in “good faith” is sickening.”
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: “Britain’s Berlusconi strikes again. After countless lies, scandals and failures, it’s time to put an end once and for all to this Conservative soap opera.”
Dominic Cummings accused ex-PM of sowing ‘further misinformation’
Dominic Cummings, who was once Boris Johnson’s de facto chief of staff in Downing Street, suggested the former prime minister was indulging in “further misinformation” in regards to his account about a No 10 garden party.
Mr Johnson, referring to the lockdown event on May 20 2020 in his evidence to the Privileges Committee, said: “I can categorically state that no-one at the time expressed to me any concerns about whether the event complied with the rules or guidance.”
Mr Cummings, writing on his Substack blog, said: “The Times reports that ‘Boris Johnson rejects a claim by Dominic Cummings that the No 10 garden party was against the rules’.
“This is not just obviously false, it’s further misinformation from him.
“Officials were fined therefore the cops concluded it was against the rules, as (Lee) Cain and I warned that morning, and which is referred to in emails given to Sue Gray.
“My opinion is irrelevant to whether it was / not against the rules.”
Mr Cummings said on the morning of the so-called “BYOB event” it had been a “particularly chaotic day” as he and the prime minister had been “arguing furiously” over the future of former cabinet secretary Lord Sedwill.
He quoted Mr Johnson as saying: “He may be a bit useless but he’s my loyal Labrador – I don’t want you replacing him with someone who does what you want!
‘Nothing reckless or unreasonable’ about trusting advisers over Christmas Party, says Johnson
Boris Johnson said there was “nothing reckless or unreasonable” about relying on assurances he had received from his advisers about a Downing Street Christmas party.
“It is clear now, those assurances were wrong,” the former prime minister said in his evidence to the Privileges Committee.
“My knowledge of what was going on at any given time was imperfect and mostly second-hand. A prime minister cannot be expected personally to investigate matters such as these. I had to rely on, and was fully entitled to rely on, what I was told by my senior, trusted advisers.”
He also said he never received any warning that any event might break the rules, adding: “At the time, it seemed implausible to me that there could have been unlawful events at No 10 without one of my many officials making me aware of it.”
Boris Johnson was ‘genuinely shocked’ by Sue Gray’s findings
Boris Johnson said the revelations in the Sue Gray and police probes into lockdown activities in Downing Street “genuinely shocked” him, and that he would not have made misleading statements in Parliament had he known about them.
He said in his evidence to the Privileges Committee: “In hindsight, I accept that my statement to Parliament on 1 December 2021, although reasonably and honestly believed at the time, did mislead the House.
“I could not have predicted the subsequent revelations that came to light following the investigations by Sue Gray and the Metropolitan Police. Those revelations genuinely shocked me.
“If I had been aware of this information, I would obviously not have stood up in Parliament and said what I said.
“The House was misled not because I was trying to hide what I knew to be true (which would have been senseless and immediately self-defeating), but because I said what I honestly and reasonably believed at the time and I did not know what the police and Sue Gray would subsequently uncover.”
Boris Johnson: ‘Disgracefully cavalier’ schoolboy turned lockdown rule-breaker
As questions over whether Boris Johnson misled parliament continue to spiral, we take a look back at the former prime minister’s school record – and its startling resemblance to some of his less flattering characterisations today.
In 2019, Rory Stewart shared with an audience at the Royal Albert Hall a school report highlighting Mr Johnson’s ”disgracefully cavalier” attitude to his studies while a pupil at Eton College.
“Boris really has adopted a disgracefully cavalier attitude to his classical studies,” wrote Martin Hammond, who taught Mr Johnson classics at school and served as his housemaster.
The letter was sent on 10 April 1982 to Stanley Johnson, the prime minister’s father.
“Boris sometimes seems affronted when criticised for what amounts to a gross failure of responsibility [and surprised at the same time that he was not appointed Captain of the School…],” Mr Hammond wrote.
“I think he honestly believes that it is churlish of us not to regard him as an exception, one who should be free of the network of obligation which binds everyone else.”
A second letter, sent by Mr Hammond in July 1982, suggested matters did not improve.
“Boris is pretty impressive when success can be achieved by pure intelligence unaccompanied by hard work,” he said.
“[But] he doesn’t have the instincts of a real scholar, and tends to ‘sell himself short’.
“He is, in fact, pretty idle about it all … Boris has something of a tendency to assume that success and honours will drop into his lap: not so, he must work for them.”
From cake to Cummings: Key points from Boris Johnson’s Partygate defence
The former prime minister insisted in his written evidence to the Privileges Committee inquiry that he “did not intentionally or recklessly mislead the House”.
His 52-page defence dossier was published on Tuesday, a day before he faces a live grilling by the cross-party group of MPs in a hearing that could decide his political fate.
Thomas Kingsley runs through all the key findings from the report:
Boris has given no new evidence, says privileges committee
Following the release of Mr Johnson’s written evidence, the privileges committee claimed it “contains no new documentary evidence”.
Rejecting claims from Johnson and his allies of bias and “partisan” claims, the committee said it has followed the advice of its legal adviser Sir Ernest Ryder.
“The committee remains confident in the fairness of its processes and in its compliance at all times with the rules and practice of the House of Commons.”
Boris ‘doesn’t recall’ making unsocially distanced joke at party
Boris Johnson said he did not recall saying that a 27 November leaving party was “probably the most unsocially distanced gathering in the UK right now”, as noted in written evidence in the committee report.
He claimed it “seems unlikely”, adding: “But I might well have made observations in speeches about social distancing, and whether it was being perfectly observed. That does not mean that I thought the guidance was contravened.”
