June 15th 2023.
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been vocal in his criticism of the findings of the Partygate report. Last Friday, after receiving an advance copy of the report, he resigned from his position as a member of Parliament and issued an unprecedented rebuke of the Privileges Committee. In his statement, he referred to it as a ‘kangaroo court’ and accused them of ‘determined to use the proceedings against me to drive me out of Parliament’.
The report, which has since been published, was compiled by a cross-party group of MPs on the Privileges Committee. The findings concluded that Mr Johnson deliberately misled the House of Commons over Partygate, and they would have recommended a 90-day suspension.
The report, titled ‘Matter referred on April 21, 2022 : Final Report’, is available to read on the parliament.uk website. There is also a Parliament Live video of the Committee’s session on 22 March 2023 with Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, which can be viewed in its entirety.
The Privileges Committee report found that Boris Johnson was guilty of ‘repeated contempts’ and ‘seeking to undermine the parliamentary process’ by deliberately misleading the House, breaching confidence, impugning the Committee, and participating in a campaign of abuse and intimidation.
In response, Boris Johnson issued an inflammatory statement describing the report’s findings as ‘rubbish’, ‘a lie’, and ‘a charade’. He refuted the Committee’s interpretation of the events and accused the Committee chair of attempting to take away the people’s right to decide who sits in Parliament. He concluded his statement by calling it ‘a dreadful day for MPs and for democracy’.
It remains to be seen how the public will react to the findings of the Privileges Committee report. It is clear, however, that Boris Johnson does not agree with the report’s conclusions and will continue to rail against it.
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