Families whose loved ones died from Covid have called for Boris Johnson to step down as an MP as he faces a make-or-break battle to save his career.
Mr Johnson will be grilled by members of the Parliamentary Privileges Committee in a televised hearing on Wednesday, and could be suspended if he is found to have misled the Commons over Partygate.
He plans to release a dossier - prepared by lawyers who have cost the taxpayer at least £220,000 - in a desperate bid to discredit the investigation into him, sparking fears he may be about to throw aides under a bus.
The committee said earlier this month that evidence "strongly suggests" that Covid breaches would have been "obvious" to Mr Johnson, who told the Commons in December 2021 that all guidance was "followed completely". He continues to insist that he never knowingly misled parliament.
Becky Kummer, who lost her father Peter to the virus, said: "It’s obvious that Boris Johnson deliberately misled Parliament and he should therefore resign as an MP. Far worse though is the lies he told to families like mine, after failing to protect our loved ones."
Becky, who represents campaign group Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, said: "The disrespect the Prime Minister showed us, both in breaking those rules himself and then lying to our faces about it, is something we’ll never forgive.
"He needs to live with the knowledge of the harm he did and the lies he told for the rest of his life. He isn’t fit for public office and the fact he still thinks he can lie his way out of it tells you all you need to know about him."
The seven-strong cross-party committee will rule on whether Mr Johnson committed a contempt of Parliament, and issue a recommendation on whether he should be suspended.
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MPs will then get to vote on whether to accept their recommendation. A suspension of 10 sitting days or more would trigger a by-election, forcing him to defend his marginal Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat.
Allies claimed the former PM - who quit in July following a rebellion over his handling of the Chris Pincher scandal - would present a dossier exonerating him.
“His case is that he told Parliament what he believed to be true at the time," an ally said. "There is documentary evidence which will show that he was advised to say what he went on and said.”
Earlier this month the committee released a bombshell dossier today with new pictures of the lockdown-flouting bashes.
WhatsApp messages seen by MPs show that No10 officials were worried about potential leaks of images showing Mr Johnson at a “piss up” - SEVEN months before the Mirror first exposed lockdown boozing in No10 and Whitehall.
Mr Johnson's comms chief was "struggling" to see how parties were within the rules and said one excuse "blows another great gaping hole in the PM's account".
Labour's Angela Rayner said the evidence was "damning" against Mr Johnson - and said Rishi Sunak "sat on his hands" while the rule-breaking was going on.
The committee said: "The evidence strongly suggests that breaches of guidance would have been obvious to Mr Johnson at the time he was at the gatherings.
"There is evidence that those who were advising Mr Johnson about what to say to the press and in the House were themselves struggling to contend that some gatherings were within the rules."
