Analysis by Luke McGee, CNN
London
CNN
—
Boris Johnson has decided to end his political career – for now – on his own terms.
By resigning last week as an MP and refusing to accept the findings of a parliamentary committee that he knowingly misled lawmakers over breaches of Covid rules, the former British prime minister gets to tell his own story. Whether anyone will listen or believe him is another matter entirely.
The Privileges Committee recommended that Johnson should not only face a 90-day ban, which would have forced a by-election for his parliamentary seat that he could easily have lost, but also that he should not be allowed a parliamentary pass, something to which ex-MPs typically are entitled.
His statement responding to the committee’s report is a not just a rebuttal, but an attack on members of the committee.
“This report is a charade. I was wrong to believe in the Committee or its good faith. The terrible truth is that it is not I who has twisted the truth to suit my purposes. It is Harriet Harman (the committee’s chair) and her Committee,” Johnson said.
The truth is that people have largely made up their minds about Johnson and the conclusions of this inquiry will probably not change his political future in any meaningful way.
Johnson, since resigning in disgrace as PM last summer, has seen his overall approval ratings remain low. The public fell out of love with him as scandal after scandal dogged the latter part of his premiership.
Conservative MPs fell out of love with him at around the same time, as was underscored when Johnson tried to make a dramatic comeback last year after his successor, Liz Truss, was forced to resign after just a couple of months in office.
MPs blocked Johnson’s bid as he endured the humiliation of flying back from a holiday only to return to that holidays days later. It was clear that however much Johnson and his loyalists wanted him back, the people that could make it happen wanted him out of the picture.
It’s worth mentioning the Johnson loyalists, because they do exist. They are smaller in number than they used to be and they represent increasingly fringe views within the Conservative Party. But they do exist and they are as loyal as ever.
It is these people who will ensure Johnson remains a political threat to Sunak. He will always have an audience. There will always be people who are forever grateful for his role in delivering Brexit and securing a parliamentary majority for the Conservatives in 2019.
Never say never with Johnson
ohnson has always been an effective political figure, even when outside of parliament. It is very likely that he will return to his media career, perhaps with a column or a TV show. His supporters will read and hear his words. He will be able to set the political agenda as effectively as he could in parliament.
Johnson will have the ability to do all of this because of choices he has made. He has decided not to fight for his seat. He has decided not to accept the committee’s ruling. He has set himself as the outsider who was brought down by a cabal.
The fact that there will always be a group of people who will listen to him means that a return to the front line of politics can never be ruled out. Should Sunak lose the next general election, Johnson’s loyalists may wish to remind people of his 2019 electoral success. And over time, that audience he enjoys could grow and at some point, it might make sense for him to come back.
Make no mistake: this report is very damaging for Johnson and he is certainly down. But it would be unwise to assume that one of Britain’s most effective political streetfighters is ever out.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/15/uk/boris-johnson-analysis-intl-gbr/index.html
Boris Johnson is down – but not necessarily out
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Edge Guerrero
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Boris Johnson is down – but not necessarily out
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Don't be selfish, preserve this world for the next generations.
I'll never long for what might have been
Regret won't waste my life again
I won't look back I'll fight to remain
Don't be selfish, preserve this world for the next generations.
I'll never long for what might have been
Regret won't waste my life again
I won't look back I'll fight to remain
CNN will protect this guy until the bitter end.
Johnson should be hanged.
Puff piece imo
Johnson should be hanged.
Puff piece imo
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Edge Guerrero
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Johnson deliberately misled parliament over Partygate, damning report finds
Privileges committee also details how ex-PM was part of a campaign to abuse and intimidate MPs investigating him
Boris Johnson deliberately misled parliament over Partygate and was part of a campaign to abuse and intimidate MPs investigating him, according to a damning official inquiry that threatens to further tear apart the Conservative party.
The long-awaited report by the privileges committee said the former prime minister would have faced a 90-day suspension from the Commons had he not quit in rage at its conclusions last week.
The original suspension was due to be 20 days but the committee said his attempts to intimidate it would have increased the punishment.
He was also found to have knowingly misled the committee, breached Commons rules by partially leaking its findings last Friday, and undermined the democratic processes of parliament.
As a result, the cross-party committee recommended Johnson be banned from getting the pass granted to former MPs that allows them privileged access to the Westminster estate.
In concluding that Johnson deliberately – and not just recklessly – misled parliament, the committee cited his repeated and continuing denials over his knowledge of rule-breaking Downing Street gatherings as well as the frequency with which he “closed his mind” to the facts.
“The contempt was all the more serious because it was committed by the prime minister, the most senior member of the government,” it said. “He misled the house on an issue of the greatest importance to the house and to the public, and did so repeatedly.”
Soon after the report was published, Johnson accused the committee, which has a Tory majority and a Labour chair, of trying to “bring about what is intended to be the final knife thrust in a protracted political assassination”. He said its findings were “preposterous” and a sign of “desperation”.
Allies of Johnson reacted with fury and pledged to target Conservative members of the committee and Tory MPs who endorse its findings for deselection.
A vote on the findings, to be held on Monday, will be a moment of major jeopardy for Rishi Sunak as Johnson’s explosive reaction threatens to undermine efforts to draw a line under the Partygate scandal and end the vicious infighting that has erupted again in recent days.
The row about the report has already resulted in Johnson and the loyalist Nigel Adams sparking byelections in Uxbridge and Selby on 20 July by standing down, and Nadine Dorries plans to cause another moment of peril for Sunak later in the summer.
Many Tory MPs are likely to endorse the result of the more than year-long inquiry in the free vote – which comes on Johnson’s 59th birthday and three years to the day since the No 10 celebration that led to him being fined by police for breaching coronavirus laws.
But there could be a damaging split on the government benches if Johnson’s allies refuse to follow suit. One Tory minister said: “This should bring an end to the Boris psychodrama once and for all. We’ve had enough of it – and of him. He’s got nobody to blame but himself.”
Downing Street refused to say whether Sunak would vote on the report on Monday but it defended the committee. “It is a properly constituted committee carrying out work at the behest of parliament,” the prime minister’s official spokesperson said. “It would not be right to traduce or criticise the work of the committee.”
The 106-page report, which accused Johnson of what amounted to an “attack on our democratic institutions”, found that the former MP was in serious contempt of parliament in five key ways:
Misleading the Commons by claiming Covid rules and guidance were followed at all times in No 10 on four separate occasions as well as when he purported to correct the record; failing to tell MPs about his own knowledge of the gatherings; claiming he received “repeated reassurances” that rules had not been broken – when just two people had made the suggestion.
Misleading the committee when he presented his evidence, many aspects of which were “not credible”; being “disingenuous” when putting forward his interpretation of government guidance; repeatedly insisting No 10 gatherings were within the rules because they were work events even though it was “highly unlikely” he genuinely believed all guidance was followed.
“Egregious” breach of confidence when he lashed out at the committee’s provisional findings in his shock resignation, having received an advance draft; leaking parts of the draft within 24 hours despite being specifically warned not to by the committee.
Impugning the committee by accusing it of “egregious bias” and likening it to a “kangaroo court” in a lengthy resignation statement that accused it of mounting a “political hit job” on him; doing so when he knew the committee would be unable to make a “substantive response”, meaning his assertions would go unchallenged.
Being complicit in a “campaign of abuse and intimidation” against the committee that amounted to “an attack on our democratic institutions”; being “insincere” in his attempts to distance himself from the attacks on committee members, having previously claimed he had the “utmost respect” for its work; claiming the report “reeked of prejudice”, which was a further attempt to undermine the parliamentary process.
A special report is expected to be published in the next fortnight that could identify the MPs – thought to include Dorries and Jacob Rees-Mogg – who may have committed contempt in a “sustained attempt, seemingly coordinated,” to undermine the privileges committee.
An official told the committee that No 10 had been an “oasis of normality” during the pandemic, with birthday parties, leaving drinks and “wine time Fridays” all continuing. Staff were warned to be “mindful” of cameras as they left but it was “all a pantomime” that was “part of a wider culture” of rule-breaking.
The committee said it took Johnson’s explanations of 16 further gatherings at Chequers and Downing Street being considered by police at face value. Johnson insisted those events were within the rules and necessary to provide support to his pregnant wife, Carrie.
But it warned: “If for any reasons it subsequently emerges that Mr Johnson’s explanations are not true, then he may have committed a further contempt.”
A snap YouGov survey of more than 3,000 adults on Thursday suggested nearly seven in 10 believed Johnson knowingly misled parliament. That included just over half of voters who backed the Tory party under Johnson in the 2019 general election.
Opposition parties called for Johnson to pay back the public money used to cover a £245,000 bill for his lawyers during the Partygate inquiry, with the Labour deputy leader, Angela Rayner, saying taxpayers should not pick up the cost.
David Garfinkel, a spokesperson for Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK, said: “It’s an utter tragedy that Johnson was in charge when the pandemic struck and he should never be allowed to stand for any form of public office again. His fall from grace must serve as a lesson to other politicians to act with honesty and to serve the public as a whole, that is the only positive that can come from this.”
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jun/15/johnson-deliberately-misled-parliament-over-partygate-damning-report-finds
Privileges committee also details how ex-PM was part of a campaign to abuse and intimidate MPs investigating him
Boris Johnson deliberately misled parliament over Partygate and was part of a campaign to abuse and intimidate MPs investigating him, according to a damning official inquiry that threatens to further tear apart the Conservative party.
The long-awaited report by the privileges committee said the former prime minister would have faced a 90-day suspension from the Commons had he not quit in rage at its conclusions last week.
The original suspension was due to be 20 days but the committee said his attempts to intimidate it would have increased the punishment.
He was also found to have knowingly misled the committee, breached Commons rules by partially leaking its findings last Friday, and undermined the democratic processes of parliament.
As a result, the cross-party committee recommended Johnson be banned from getting the pass granted to former MPs that allows them privileged access to the Westminster estate.
In concluding that Johnson deliberately – and not just recklessly – misled parliament, the committee cited his repeated and continuing denials over his knowledge of rule-breaking Downing Street gatherings as well as the frequency with which he “closed his mind” to the facts.
“The contempt was all the more serious because it was committed by the prime minister, the most senior member of the government,” it said. “He misled the house on an issue of the greatest importance to the house and to the public, and did so repeatedly.”
Soon after the report was published, Johnson accused the committee, which has a Tory majority and a Labour chair, of trying to “bring about what is intended to be the final knife thrust in a protracted political assassination”. He said its findings were “preposterous” and a sign of “desperation”.
Allies of Johnson reacted with fury and pledged to target Conservative members of the committee and Tory MPs who endorse its findings for deselection.
A vote on the findings, to be held on Monday, will be a moment of major jeopardy for Rishi Sunak as Johnson’s explosive reaction threatens to undermine efforts to draw a line under the Partygate scandal and end the vicious infighting that has erupted again in recent days.
The row about the report has already resulted in Johnson and the loyalist Nigel Adams sparking byelections in Uxbridge and Selby on 20 July by standing down, and Nadine Dorries plans to cause another moment of peril for Sunak later in the summer.
Many Tory MPs are likely to endorse the result of the more than year-long inquiry in the free vote – which comes on Johnson’s 59th birthday and three years to the day since the No 10 celebration that led to him being fined by police for breaching coronavirus laws.
But there could be a damaging split on the government benches if Johnson’s allies refuse to follow suit. One Tory minister said: “This should bring an end to the Boris psychodrama once and for all. We’ve had enough of it – and of him. He’s got nobody to blame but himself.”
Downing Street refused to say whether Sunak would vote on the report on Monday but it defended the committee. “It is a properly constituted committee carrying out work at the behest of parliament,” the prime minister’s official spokesperson said. “It would not be right to traduce or criticise the work of the committee.”
The 106-page report, which accused Johnson of what amounted to an “attack on our democratic institutions”, found that the former MP was in serious contempt of parliament in five key ways:
Misleading the Commons by claiming Covid rules and guidance were followed at all times in No 10 on four separate occasions as well as when he purported to correct the record; failing to tell MPs about his own knowledge of the gatherings; claiming he received “repeated reassurances” that rules had not been broken – when just two people had made the suggestion.
Misleading the committee when he presented his evidence, many aspects of which were “not credible”; being “disingenuous” when putting forward his interpretation of government guidance; repeatedly insisting No 10 gatherings were within the rules because they were work events even though it was “highly unlikely” he genuinely believed all guidance was followed.
“Egregious” breach of confidence when he lashed out at the committee’s provisional findings in his shock resignation, having received an advance draft; leaking parts of the draft within 24 hours despite being specifically warned not to by the committee.
Impugning the committee by accusing it of “egregious bias” and likening it to a “kangaroo court” in a lengthy resignation statement that accused it of mounting a “political hit job” on him; doing so when he knew the committee would be unable to make a “substantive response”, meaning his assertions would go unchallenged.
Being complicit in a “campaign of abuse and intimidation” against the committee that amounted to “an attack on our democratic institutions”; being “insincere” in his attempts to distance himself from the attacks on committee members, having previously claimed he had the “utmost respect” for its work; claiming the report “reeked of prejudice”, which was a further attempt to undermine the parliamentary process.
A special report is expected to be published in the next fortnight that could identify the MPs – thought to include Dorries and Jacob Rees-Mogg – who may have committed contempt in a “sustained attempt, seemingly coordinated,” to undermine the privileges committee.
An official told the committee that No 10 had been an “oasis of normality” during the pandemic, with birthday parties, leaving drinks and “wine time Fridays” all continuing. Staff were warned to be “mindful” of cameras as they left but it was “all a pantomime” that was “part of a wider culture” of rule-breaking.
The committee said it took Johnson’s explanations of 16 further gatherings at Chequers and Downing Street being considered by police at face value. Johnson insisted those events were within the rules and necessary to provide support to his pregnant wife, Carrie.
But it warned: “If for any reasons it subsequently emerges that Mr Johnson’s explanations are not true, then he may have committed a further contempt.”
A snap YouGov survey of more than 3,000 adults on Thursday suggested nearly seven in 10 believed Johnson knowingly misled parliament. That included just over half of voters who backed the Tory party under Johnson in the 2019 general election.
Opposition parties called for Johnson to pay back the public money used to cover a £245,000 bill for his lawyers during the Partygate inquiry, with the Labour deputy leader, Angela Rayner, saying taxpayers should not pick up the cost.
David Garfinkel, a spokesperson for Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK, said: “It’s an utter tragedy that Johnson was in charge when the pandemic struck and he should never be allowed to stand for any form of public office again. His fall from grace must serve as a lesson to other politicians to act with honesty and to serve the public as a whole, that is the only positive that can come from this.”
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jun/15/johnson-deliberately-misled-parliament-over-partygate-damning-report-finds
- I rent this space for advertising
Don't be selfish, preserve this world for the next generations.
I'll never long for what might have been
Regret won't waste my life again
I won't look back I'll fight to remain
Don't be selfish, preserve this world for the next generations.
I'll never long for what might have been
Regret won't waste my life again
I won't look back I'll fight to remain
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