LAST UPDATE | 22 Mar 2023
BORIS JOHNSON WAS accused of relying on “flimsy” assurances before issuing his partygate denials, as he insisted there is not a “shred of evidence” to show he lied to MPs.
In at times short-tempered testimony, the former UK prime minister’s defences were met on today with exasperation by multiple colleagues on the Privileges Committee that could recommend his suspension.
Johnson hit out at the “manifestly unfair” process in the hearing spanning more than three hours but declined to repeat the charge of some allies that the inquiry is a “kangaroo court”.
He accepts he misled MPs but denies doing so “recklessly”, insisting he denied lockdown breaches “in good faith” on the advice of officials, who turned out to be wrong.
Harriet Harman, the Labour chairwoman of the Tory-majority committee, asked whether he could see why they were “a bit dismayed about the flimsy nature” of the assurances.
Senior Tory Bernard Jenkin questioned why Johnson failed to take “proper advice”, which Johnson angrily rejected as “complete nonsense”.
Johnson also hit out at Alberto Costa for raising a “completely ridiculous assessment” after the Conservative suggested his reliance on advisers was a “deflection mechanism”.
The televised committee hearing began with the former Conservative leader swearing to tell the truth on the Bible.
“I’m here to say to you, hand on heart, I did not lie to the House,” he said.
“When those statements were made, they were made in good faith and on the basis of what I honestly knew and believed at the time.”
He defended various rule-breaking events during the coronavirus pandemic, including his birthday party for which he was fined, as being “necessary for work purposes”.
But questioned about a large gathering in the No 10 garden, Johnson said: “People who say that we were partying in lockdown simply do not know what they are talking about.”
Johnson could be suspended and face a possible by-election if he is found to have committed a contempt of Parliament with his denials of rule-breaking to MPs.
At one point in the hearing, Johnson said that when he insisted to the Commons that the “guidance” had been followed “at all times” in No 10 he should have said it was all “rules” that had been adhered to.
He said he was “misremembering” the line that had been given to the media by staff as the scandal emerged.
Tory MP Costa said: “Some might see your reliance on the reported assurances you received as, and forgive me, as a deflection mechanism to prevent having to answer questions about your knowledge of these gatherings.”
Johnson replied: “No, that would be a completely ridiculous assessment.”
Harman, who Johnson criticised for making “prejudicial” remarks in the past, said it was “hard to understand what the nature of an assurance is when you’ve been there and seen it with your own eyes”.
“If I was going at 100mph and I saw the speedometer saying 100mph, it would be a bit odd, wouldn’t it, if I said someone assured me that I wasn’t, because it is what you’ve seen with your own eyes,” she said.
“Do you actually think we would be entitled to be a bit dismayed about the flimsy nature of this assurance?” she asked.
During his opening remarks, Johnson also took the time to call out his former Special Advisor Dominic Cummings, who claimed to have warned him ahead of time of concerns relating to the events.
Johnson said Cummings’ claims are “unsupported by any documentary evidence” and “plainly cannot be relied on. He has every motive to lie.”
“There can be no doubt that you understood what the rules, and what they were designed to achieve,” said Jenkin during the opening round of questions, in which he pointed to photographic evidence of an event at No 10 Downing St that appears to show several people ignoring social distancing guidelines – which at the time were 2m, or 1m with exceptions.
Proceedings were suspended after around 15 minutes so that Johnson, as well as the other MPs present, could go and vote on Rishi Sunak’s Windsor Framework bill.
Johnson voted against the bill as part of at least a dozen Tory MPs who have defected from the party line.
The Metropolitan Police eventually issued 126 fines for rule breaches in No 10 and Whitehall, with Johnson receiving a single fixed-penalty notice for his birthday party in the Cabinet Room in June 2020.
Proceedings were suspended for a second time at around 3.30pm as MPs once again left to vote on a Public Order Bill.
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