Parliamentary committee: Johnson lied to MPs over COVID parties

Former British prime minister Boris Johnson has been rebuked by a parliamentary committee over deliberately lying to MPs about lockdown-breaking parties during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Privileges Committee, which investigates breaches of House of Commons rules, ruled on Thursday that Johnson was guilty of "repeated contempts (of parliament) and... seeking to undermine the parliamentary process,” AFP reported.

The seven-member committee, chaired by veteran opposition Labour MP Harriet Harman, has a majority of MPs from Johnson's own Conservative party.

The committee took testimony from Johnson and senior members of his government during its yearlong investigation. The panel has powers to impose sanctions for misleading parliament, including suspension.

The 58-year-old populist politician had initially denied the charges labeled against him but later admitted them and gave certain assurances.

The committee, however, found that Johnson’s assurances were misleading and that he had failed to correct the record when asked to do so which amounted to a “serious contempt” of Parliament.

"The contempt was all the more serious because it was committed by the prime minister, the most senior member of the government," the committee stated in a damning 106-page verdict that further tarnished the image of Johnson.  

"There is no precedent for a prime minister having been found to have deliberately misled the House,” the committee report added.

"He misled the House on an issue of the greatest importance to the House and to the public, and did so repeatedly."

The report said, "We came to the view that some of Mr. Johnson’s denials and explanations were so disingenuous that they were by their very nature deliberate attempts to mislead the Committee and the House, while others demonstrated deliberation because of the frequency with which he closed his mind to the truth."

The committee said it would have recommended a suspension of three months from the House of Commons for Johnson if he had not resigned. 

Leading to a by-election that could have cost Johnson his seat in Parliament, the former prime minister resigned on Friday after the committee gave him advance notice of its findings.

Johnson claimed he had been forced out in a stitch-up by his political opponents.

The Privileges Committee said that Johnson should not be granted a pass to Parliament’s grounds. Former members of Parliament are normally entitled to a pass that gives them access to the Parliamentary Estate to socialize in various bars and restaurants even when they have quit politics.

The committee said, "In view of the fact that Mr. Johnson is no longer a member, we recommend that he should not be granted a former member’s pass."

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Meanwhile, Johnson censured the committee as a "kangaroo court.”

"It is very sad to be leaving Parliament - at least for now -- but above all I am bewildered and appalled that I can be forced out, anti-democratically... with such egregious bias," he said.

Johnson, who was sacked from his first job at The Times newspaper for making up a quote, first became an MP in 2001 until 2008.

He became an MP again in 2015, and went on to be foreign secretary from 2016 to 2018, and prime minister from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as mayor of London from 2008 to 2016.

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