Privileges Committee finds Boris Johnson misled Parliament
Boris Johnson is rumoured to be unveiled as the Daily Mail’s “erudite” new columnist days after quitting as an MP.
It comes after a cross-party committee of MPs found the former prime minister repeatedly lied to Parliament before being complicit in a campaign of abuse and intimidation.
The disgraced former prime minister is believed to be the blacked out silhouette on the Mail’s front page who will write for it weekly starting tomorrow.
The paper promises Mr Johnson’s column will be “required reading” in Westminster and around the world.
Former ministers who have left the government in the last two years must apply to the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) before taking up a new appointment.
Acoba chairman Lord Eric Pickles said he will be writing to Boris Johnson to seek clarification on whether he is taking a job as a Daily Mail columnist.
Elsewhere, Johnson allies have vowed they will target Conservative members who endorse the Privileges Committee’s report for deselection.
Former culture secretary Nadine Dorries warned that any Tory MPs who endorsed the Privileges Committee’s report on Monday were not “true Conservatives” and would be “held to account by members and the public”.
