Boris Johnson will reportedly be found on Wednesday to have deliberately misled MPs over parties in Downing Street during the pandemic. The Privileges Committee has rejected the former prime minister's defence that senior officials advised him Covid rules and guidance had been followed in No 10, according to the Times.
But Mr Johnson - who resigned on Friday after receiving the group's report - struck a defiant tone, quoting Arnold Schwarzenegger as he told the Daily Express: "I'll be back." The ex-MP accused the committee of "bias" and likened it to a "kangaroo court" in a furious 1,000-word exit statement after receiving a draft of its findings.
The panel, chaired by Labour a MP but with a Conservative majority, found that one of his most senior officials in fact warned him against claiming social distancing guidelines were followed at the gatherings, the Times reported. According to the paper, Martin Reynolds, Mr Johnson's principal private secretary at the time, advised him in December 2021 that he should remove a claim from a statement to the Commons that "all guidance had been followed at all times".
