Privileges Committee report – Boris Johnson would have been suspended for 90 days if he had not quit
The long-awaited report from the Privileges Committee into whether Boris Johnson misled Parliament over Partygate has been released. The committee found the former prime minister did intentionally mislead the House, the committee, impugned the committee and was “complicit in the campaign of abuse and attempted intimidation of the Committee”
The committee said if Johnson hadn’t resigned last week after he had received a draft of the findings, they would have recommended suspending Johnson from the House for 90 days – far longer than anyone expected.
The report also recommends Johnson should not get a pass which allows ex-MPs to access Parliament after they leave.
Last week, after he had an early viewing of the report, he blasted the committee suggesting it was a “kangaroo court” whose purpose “has been to find me guilty, regardless of the facts.”
Johnson has already admitted his statements misled Parliament but he continues to deny doing so intentionally or recklessly.
In a rebuttal to the report, he has today released a statement calling it a “charade” and suggests the report marks “a dreadful day for MPs and for democracy” and accuses the Privileges Committee of functioning in an “anti-democratic way”.
He adds that he considers the findings “the final knife-thrust in a protracted political assassination – that is beneath contempt”.
The committee is made up of cross-party MPs, with the majority being Johnson’s fellow Conservatives.