Early evening summary
Boris Johnson deliberately misled parliament over Partygate and was part of a campaign to abuse and intimidate MPs investigating him, a long-awaited report by the privileges committee has found. In an analysis of what the report means for Johnson, Pippa Crerar writes:
It has long been Johnson’s instinct when faced with trouble to double down, deflect, deny – and to attack. It is why he is claiming that the committee report with its “trumped up” charges has dealt the “final knife-thrust in a protracted political assassination”.
He still cannot see that his response throughout to the Partygate affair has made his situation worse. It could have turned out very differently for Johnson, for the Tory party and for the country, if he had accepted responsibility from the start.
But that would go against every one of his instincts. He has run head first into reality and found himself out of frontline politics, out of parliament and out of favour. And while it is always unwise to write off Johnson, his chances of once again staging a frontline political comeback now look vanishingly remote.
Pippa’s full analysis is here.
And here is Peter Walker’s summary of what the report says.
Johnson could face fresh inquiry if he gave WhatsApp messages to Covid inquiry that privileges committee wanted, report says
In its report the privileges committee says Boris Johnson could be the subject of a fresh inquiry if it turns out that he submitted WhatsApp messages to the Covid inquiry that he withheld from Harriet Harman and her colleagues.
In what was interpreted as a bid to embarrass Rishi Sunak and No 10, who are resisting demands from the Covid inquiry for it to get access to unredacted WhatsApp messages from minister if No 10 thinks they are irrelevant, Johnson told the Covid inquiry it could see all his messages.
In its report, the privilges committee says it only received “a limited number” of WhatsApp messages from Johnson. In a footnote it goes on:
We note that Mr Johnson has recently undertaken to supply the Covid public inquiry with a large number of his personal WhatsApp messages. This contrasts with his highly restrictive release of such messages to us. If it transpires from examination of the WhatsApp messages supplied to the Covid inquiry that there was relevant material which should have been disclosed to us either by Mr Johnson or the Cabinet Office, this would be a serious matter which the House might need to revisit.
