Boris Johnson’s Partygate Defence Dossier Says He Did Not ‘Intentionally Mislead’ Parliament

Former PM says assertion of 'obviousness' is 'fundamentally flawed'

Former British prime minister Boris Johnson leaves his home in London on March 20, 2023. Carl Court/Getty Images

A dossier presented by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson to the House of Commons Committee of Privileges includes an acceptance that he misled MPs when he said there had been no parties at 10 Downing Street in breach of COVID-19 rules.

He goes on to say he made the denials “in good faith” based on the information he had at the time.

On Dec. 8, 2021, in reply to a question from a Labour MP about whether there had been a party in Downing Street on Nov. 13, 2020, Johnson replied, “No, but I am sure that whatever happened, the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times.”

It later emerged Johnson gave a speech at Director of Communications Lee Cain’s leaving party on Nov. 13, 2020, but left after 15 minutes.

But he said he had not been warned any of the gatherings might be in breach of the COVID-19 rules and added, “At the time, it seemed implausible to me that there could have been unlawful events at No. 10 without one of my many officials making me aware of it.”

In the 52-page dossier Johnson, who resigned in July after most of his Cabinet ministers quit over another matter, insisted he “did not intentionally or recklessly mislead the House.”

A Metropolitan Police investigation into breaches of the COVID-19 lockdown ended with a total of 126 fines being issued to 83 people, including Johnson, his wife Carrie, and the then-Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

A report by senior civil servant Sue Gray, which was published on May 25, 2022, condemned the wider culture that had been allowed to develop under Johnson’s leadership and said: “The events that I investigated were attended by leaders in government. Many of these events should not have been allowed to happen.”

The committee’s initial report, published earlier this month, said:  The evidence strongly suggests that breaches of guidance would have been obvious to Mr. Johnson at the time he was at the gatherings.”

Johnson is due to give evidence to the committee on Wednesday but he submitted a dossier in his own defence on Monday, and it was published by the committee on Tuesday.

He begins by saying: “As I made clear to the House of Commons on 25 May 2022, I take full responsibility for everything that took place on my watch at No. 10. The revelations in Sue Gray’s report shocked the public, and they shocked me. I therefore begin by renewing my apologies to the British people for what happened on my watch.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson at one of the gatherings which breached the COVID-19 lockdown rules, in 10 Downing Street in 2020. Sue Gray Report/Cabinet Office/PA

Johnson goes on to say: “It is now clear that over a number of days, there were gatherings at No. 10 that, however they began, went past the point where they could be said to have been reasonably necessary for work purposes. That should never have happened, and it fills me with sadness and regret that it did.”

Johnson Could Face Recall By-Election

If found to have misled Parliament, Johnson could face a suspension by the committee of privileges which would lay him open to a possible recall and a by-election in his Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency.

Johnson and Sunak were fined for attending an impromptu birthday event in the Cabinet Room for the then-prime minister in June 2020.

In his dossier Johnson said: “To this day it remains unclear to me – and I believe the Prime Minister may feel the same – how precisely we committed an offence under the regulations.”

He said he had “never been provided with any rationale by the police, in particular how some individuals that attended did not receive a fixed penalty notice.”

Former PM Insists No Birthday Cake Was Eaten

Johnson recalls the event: “We had a sandwich lunch together and they wished me Happy Birthday. I was not told in advance that this would happen. No cake was eaten, and no-one even sang ‘happy birthday’. The primary topic of conversation was the response to Covid-19.”

In his legal argument, Johnson accepts his denials turned out not to be true but said he corrected the record at the “earliest opportunity.”

Johnson added: “So I accept that the House of Commons was misled by my statements that the Rules and Guidance had been followed completely at No. 10. But when the statements were made, they were made in good faith and on the basis of what I honestly knew and believed at the time.”

“I did not intentionally or recklessly mislead the House on December 1 2021, December 8 2021, or on any other date. I would never have dreamed of doing so,” he added.

Johnson said there was “not a single document that indicates that I received any warning or advice that any event broke” the rules other than the “assertions of the discredited Dominic Cummings.”

Former Number 10 special adviser Dominic Cummings walks out of his house to speak to the press in London on Jan. 24, 2022. Tolga Akmen /AFP via Getty Images

Cummings resigned as Johnson’s chief aide in November 2020 and has since been heavily critical of his former boss.

Johnson rejects assertions that breaches of the COVID-19 rules should have been “obvious” to him.

He said it was “illogical” and said the committee’s allegation of obviousness was “fundamentally flawed.”

Johnson said: “If it was ‘obvious’ to me that the rules and guidance were not being followed, it would have also been ’obvious’ to the dozens of others who also attended those gatherings. Many of those individuals wished me ill and would have no hesitation in seeking to bring me down me if I sought to conceal or ‘cover-up’ the truth from the House.”

Johnson: ‘There Is Absolutely Nothing’

He added: “If someone had known or believed that the rules or guidance had been broken (because it was ‘obvious’), you would expect that there would have been contemporaneous documents recording this, including emails or WhatsApp messages: some discussion, or some post-mortem. There is absolutely nothing.”

The former prime minister said: “As soon as the Sue Gray investigation and the Metropolitan Police investigation had been concluded, I corrected the record. I believed – and I still believe – that this was the earliest opportunity at which I could make the necessary correction.”

He added: “It was not fair or appropriate to give a half-baked account, before the facts had been fully and properly established, including into many events about which I had no personal knowledge. I explained to the House that that is what I intended to do, and that is what I did on 25 May 2022: six days after the Police investigation had concluded, and the same day that the final Sue Gray report was published.”

The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Sir Keir Starmer, recently announced Gray would be joining as his chief of staff, a move that outraged Tory MPs who have demanded to know when she began her negotiation to join Labour.