Boris Johnson endured more than three hours of scrutiny from the House of Commons Privileges Committee as it grilled him on allegations he misled parliament over the gatherings in Number 10 when the rest of the country was under Covid restrictions.
The revelations about the alcohol-filled events during Covid were the trigger for a precipitous decline in Mr Johnson’s popularity which contributed to his being ousted from Downing Street by his own MPs. The committee, which has a majority of Tory MPs but is chaired by Labour MP Harriet Harman, has the power to sanction the former PM if he is found to have misled the House.
There were several tense exchanges between Mr Johnson and committee members and many of them reveal a lot about him as a man, but also about the precarious situation he had put himself in and how likely he is to wriggle out.
