Boris Johnson Steps up Attacks on Partygate Probe

Former prime minister called privileges committee report 'nonsense'

Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson listens during a tour after a meeting with Gov. Greg Abbott at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas, on May 23, 2023. Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Boris Johnson has intensified his attacks on the Parliamentary committee investigating the Partygate scandal, which is to announce in the coming days its verdict on whether the former prime minister lied to MPs about lockdown parties in Downing Street.

The House of Commons Privileges Committee, led by Labour MP Harriet Harman but has a Conservative majority, has been investigating whether Johnson misled Parliament when he repeatedly claimed COVID-19 rules had been “followed at all times” during the pandemic.

A photograph obtained by ITV News of then Prime Minister Boris Johnson at a leaving party in Downing Street, London, on Nov. 13. 2020. ITV/PA Media

The verdict has not been publicly announced, but Johnson quit as an MP on Friday, accusing the committee of trying to drive him out of Parliament and calling its investigation into the partygate scandal a “kangaroo court.”

In a statement on Tuesday evening, the former prime minister said: “The Privileges Committee should publish their report and let the world judge their nonsense. They have no excuse for delay. Their absurdly unfair rules do not even allow any criticism of their findings.

“I have made my views clear to the committee in writing—and will do so more widely when they finally publish.”

Boris Johnson giving evidence to the Privileges Committee at the House of Commons, London, on March 22, 2023. House of Commons/UK Parliament via PA Media

The comments came after Johnson made last-minute representations to the Privileges Committee on Monday night.

A committee spokesman said on Tuesday: “A letter enclosing further representations from Mr. Johnson was received by the committee at 11:57 p.m. last night. The committee is dealing with these and will report promptly.”

‘Biased’

In his resignation statement on Friday, Johnson called the partygate investigation a “kangaroo court” with “egregious bias.”

He claimed the probe has been a “witch hunt” intended to “take revenge for Brexit and ultimately to reverse the 2016 referendum result,” despite the fact that the Privileges Committee has a Tory majority and includes arch-Brexiteer Sir Bernard Jenkin.

Johnson’s allies have joined him in the attacks on the committee.

Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg delivers his keynote address during the National Conservatism conference at the Emmanuel Centre in London, on May 15, 2023. Leon Neal/Getty Images

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said the committee’s report was “clearly partisan” and “biased.”

He said the committee “never had any credibility as an impartial tribunal” and lamented that its Conservative members “ignored the politicking” of the Labour chairman and “naively went along with her leadership.”

But Downing Street expressed confidence in the work of the committee.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s official spokesman said on Monday: “This is a properly set-up committee that the house has voted to carry out their work. The government will in no way traduce or criticise the work of the committee who are doing exactly what Parliament has asked them to do.”

Row over Resignation Honours

Following his resignation, Johnson launched into a public spat with Sunak over his resignation honours list.

The prime minister said on Monday that his former boss wanted him to ignore the recommendations of the House of Lords Appointments Commission (Holac), which had vetoed eight names Johnson had put forward for peerages.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaking during the London Technology Week at the QEII Centre in central London, on June 12, 2023. Ian Vogler/Daily Mirror via PA Media

Johnson subsequently released a statement saying: “Rishi Sunak is talking rubbish.

“To honour these peerages it was not necessary to overrule Holac—but simply to ask them to renew their vetting, which was a mere formality.”

The Cabinet Office dismissed the attack, saying: “Holac did not support the nominations of the MPs put forward by the former prime minister. It is unprecedented for a sitting prime minister to invite Holac to reconsider the vetting of individual nominees on a former prime minister’s resignation list. It is, therefore, not a formality.”

‘I’ll Be Back’

Despite his resignation from the House of Commons, the former prime minister insisted he will “be back.”

In the Daily Express, Johnson said: “We must fully deliver on Brexit and on the 2019 manifesto. We must smash Labour at the next election.

“Nothing less than absolute victory and total Brexit will do—and as the great Arnold Schwarzenegger said, I’ll be back.”

Commenting on the internal row in the ruling Conservative Party, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer warned on Tuesday that Tory infighting is damaging the UK’s reputation internationally and putting off investors.

PA Media contributed to this report.