Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced he will resign as an MP with immediate affect, citing the ongoing investigation by the House of Commons privileges committee into whether he lied to MPs about Partygate.
The former PM - who has been MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip - follows close ally Nadine Dorries in announcing a resignation today. This means the Conservative Party, now led by Rishi Sunak, will soon face two potentially tricky by-elections.
Boris Johnson, who also served two terms as the mayor of London, said that he was quitting because he was “bewildered and appalled” at the Privileges Committee’s investigation into him.
Read more: Boris Johnson admits misleading Parliament over Partygate - but vows he did not intend to
He said he had received a letter from the committee which is investigating whether he lied to MPs over partygate “making it clear, much to my amazement, that they are determined to use the proceedings against me to drive me out of Parliament”.
This investigation is examining whether the former PM misled MPs about what he knew as to parties taking place in 10 Downing Street during the Covid-19 lockdowns. He has previously been slammed by
In his statement, Boris said: “I have today written to my association in Uxbridge and South Ruislip to say that I am stepping down forthwith and triggering an immediate by-election. I am very sorry to leave my wonderful constituency. It has been a huge honour to serve them, both as mayor and MP.
"It is very sad to be leaving parliament, at least for now, but above all 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."
In March, Ms Harman - formerly deputy leader of the Labour Party and one of the longest-serving MPs in the House of Commons - opened the privileges committee's hearing into whether Boris Johnson intentionally misled Parliament over lockdown-era parties.
Boris Johnson accepted that he misled the Commons but denies he did so on purpose, arguing that he relied on the advice of senior staff. At this stage neither Ms Harman nor the committee has commented on the ex-PM's resignation.
In Boris Johnson's resignation statement, he issued a rallying call to his followers and attacked Rishi Sunak’s Government.
“When I left office last year the government was only a handful of points behind in the polls. That gap has now massively widened,” he said. "Just a few years after winning the biggest majority in almost half a century, that majority is now clearly at risk. Our party needs urgently to recapture its sense of momentum and its belief in what this country can do."
He said the Government needed to show how it was "making the most of Brexit", called for tax cuts and said: "We must not be afraid to be a properly Conservative government."
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