Ahead of a televised grilling that might define his political future, Britain’s former prime minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that he unintentionally misled parliament on the “Partygate” affair but blamed senior aides.
After two years of Covid lockdowns, during which his staff frequently partied at 10 Downing Street, Johnson published a 52-page report outlining his justifications for denying breaching the rules.
Together with his then-finance minister and current prime minister Rishi Sunak, he was fined by the police for one gathering.
In May of last year, the former leader of the Conservative Party, who had earlier insisted to Parliament that the meetings were legal, apologised and corrected the parliamentary record.
The stakes are high as Johnson’s supporters call for his return to power, despite the fact that he first refused to step down. Johnson eventually resigned in July following a cabinet uprising over a different ethical controversy.
“I did not knowingly or carelessly mislead the House on December 1, December 8, or any other date,” he stated in the submission, which was purportedly written by one of London’s priciest attorneys.
“I would never have dared to do such a thing.”
Johnson will be questioned for up to four hours on Wednesday by the cross-party privileges committee of MPs, who are looking into whether he lied in his earlier denials before May.
He may lose his seat in the Commons if he is found guilty. If enough people demand a special election for his west London seat, it might be called if the ban lasts more than 10 sitting days.
Once London police and senior civil servant Sue Gray completed their own investigations, Johnson claimed that his apology and correction in May occurred at the earliest opportunity.
He said that when he initially claimed that all of the Covid guidelines and standards had been followed, the Commons had been “misled.”
He defended his actions by saying, “But when the remarks were made, they were made in good faith and on the basis of what I honestly understood and thought at the time.” He placed the blame on top advisors who had informed him that no regulations had been breached.
It was “clear” that Johnson had lied to parliament, according to the advocacy organisation Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK, and he should resign as an MP.
“But even worse are the malicious lies he delivered to the grieving families after failing to defend our loved ones. It is disgusting that he claims he acted in “good faith.” “It stated.
In Britain, the death toll from the Covid waves that began in 2020 was over 220,000, second deadliest in Europe next to Russia.
The government’s total reaction is the subject of a separate, public enquiry that will probably last years.
Investigations like the one conducted by the Privileges Committee provide a more recent look into that trying time.
Despite having a majority of Conservatives, the committee has come under fire from Johnson supporters for conducting a “witch hunt,” and his dossier accused its members of being political and going beyond of their purview.
The committee answered by saying it “remains confident in the fairness of its processes.”
In a statement, it was clarified that “Mr. Johnson’s written contribution does not contain any new documentary evidence.”
Johnson should have been aware that the rules were being broken, the MPs said in an initial report released this month. They published never-before-seen pictures of the former prime minister raising a glass of wine to the employees at several events.
Also, they released WhatsApp chats that showed senior aides attempting to come up with a reason for the parties for the public.
Johnson made a bold comeback effort in October. Sunak is accused of treason by loyalists, who claim that if he returns, the embattled Conservatives would be revived.
Pollsters, however, disagree with that.
Tory lord and election analyst Robert Hayward told reporters that “he is a severe negative for most people.”
He said that Boris’s poll numbers were far lower than those of Rishi.
