Boris Johnson deliberately misled Parliament over gatherings held at Downing Street during Covid lockdowns, a committee of MPs has concluded in a bombshell report.
The Commons’ Privileges Committee said on Thursday that the former Prime Minister had committed “serious contempt” when he told MPs there was no lockdown rule-breaking in No10 during the pandemic.
In response last Friday, Mr Johnson launched a blistering attack on the committee - which is comprised of four Tory MPs, two Labour and one SNP member - saying the conclusion that he deliberately misled the House was a “lie”.
Going further, Mr Johnson added: “In order to reach this deranged conclusion, the committee is obliged to say a series of things that are patently absurd, or contradicted by the facts.”
Mr Johnson announced that he would step down as MP after being given advance notice of the report’s verdict labelling the committee a “kangaroo court”.
Below are the main findings from the 106-page report:
Boris Johnson ‘misled’ the House of Commons over Downing Street gatherings
The findings of the investigation concluded that Mr Johnson had “deliberately misled the House”.
The committee said: “We conclude that when he told the House and this Committee that the rules and guidance were being complied with, his own knowledge was such that he deliberately misled the House and this Committee.”
Going further, the committee said Mr Johnson had been “deliberately disingenuous when he tried to reinterpret his statements to the House”.
It concluded this:
- When he advanced unsustainable interpretations of the Rules and Guidance to advance the argument that the lack of social distancing at gatherings was permissible within the exceptions which allowed for gatherings
- When he advanced legally impermissible reasons to justify the gatherings
Former Prime Minister would have faced 90-day suspension if still an MP
The committee said it had reached the conclusion that Mr Johnson “should be sanctioned” for a period that would trigger a recall petition before revising its determination.
Following his explosive resignation, where he claimed he had been the victim of a “witch hunt”, the committee said: “If he had not resigned his seat, we would have recommended that he be suspended from the service of the House for 90 days for repeated contempt and for seeking to undermine the parliamentary process.”
This conclusion was reached “unanimously” by the cross-party group of MPs.
Any sanction beyond 10 sitting days would have sparked a recall petition in his now former Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat.
Any recommendation from the committee, however, would need to be approved by MPs in the House.
Boris Johnson should be denied Parliament pass
Former members of Parliament are normally entitled to a pass that gives them access to the estate.
In light of the report’s findings and of Mr Johnson’s conduct, the committee said: “We recommend that he should not be entitled to a former Member’s pass.”
Two members of the committee had recommended Mr Johnson be expelled from Parliament.
No precedent for a former Prime Minister to ‘deliberately mislead the House’
In committing “serious contempt” by deliberately misleading the House, the former Prime Minister’s behaviour was unprecedented, the report said.
The report states: “The contempt was all the more serious because it was committed by the Prime Minister, the most senior member of the government.
“There is no precedent for a Prime Minister having been found to have deliberately misled the House.
“He misled the House on an issue of the greatest importance to the House and to the public, and did so repeatedly. He declined our invitation to reconsider his assertions that what he said to the House was truthful.
“His defence to the allegation that he misled was an ex post facto justification and no more than an artifice. He misled the Committee in the presentation of his evidence.”
Evidence of 16 other gatherings given to the committee
The committee focused on gatherings held on: May 20, June 19, November 13, November 27, and December 18, 2020, as well as an event on January 14, 2021.
According to the report, evidence of 16 other gatherings held at No10 and Chequers were handed to the committee.
The evidence was supplied by the Government with members of Mr Johnson’s counsel team identifying the gatherings as “problematic”.
“These entries are based on an assessment by Government Legal Department as to events/activities which could reasonably be considered to constitute breaches of Covid Regulations,” it said.
A day after receiving the evidence, the information was put to Mr Johnson who provided explanations of the 16 events.
‘An egregious breach of confidentiality’ and ‘serious further contempt’
Mr Johnson’s public statement last Friday “was in breach of the express requirements of confidentiality imposed by the Committee and the ordinary requirement that committee material is confidential unless and until the Committee determines that it should be published”, the report said.
His additional characterisation of the committee as a “kangaroo court” was “a serious further contempt”, the MPs said.
“This attack on a committee carrying out its remit from the democratically elected House itself amounts to an attack on our democratic institutions.
“We consider that these statements are completely unacceptable. In our view this conduct, together with the egregious breach of confidentiality, is a serious further contempt,” they said.
