2023-06-20 00:43:00
Boris Johnson “deliberately misled the deputies” established the Chamber. Photo: AFP
British lawmakers on Monday approved the report that former Prime Minister Boris Johnson “deliberately misled” about illegal parties held during lockdowns due to the coronavirus pandemic, in an attempt to quickly overcome the scandal that engulfed the Conservative Party.
The lengthy debate among the Commons, which took place on the day the former Conservative leader turned 59, led to a disciplinary sanction that consisted solely of withdrawing Johnson’s access pass to the Palace of Westminsterseat of Parliament, a symbolic privilege offered to ex-legislators.
In a lower house of 646 active members, but many absent, 354 voted in favor and only seven against. of the recommendations of the Committee on Privileges on the scandal of the “Partygate”, whose conclusions revived the divisions between the conservative deputies.
The other sanctions provided for in the report will not be effective due to Johnson’s resignation from his bench before the report was released, according to Sky News television.
According to the report, the ex-premier “deliberately misled the deputies” of the House of Commons by telling them repeatedly, after the scandal broke, that the Covid-19 rules had been followed at all times.
In addition, it determined that Johnson committed “repeated contempt” of Parliament and attempted to “undermine the parliamentary process.”
“There is no precedent for finding that a prime minister deliberately misled the chamber,” he stressed.
Johnson’s detractors hoped to finally cut ties with the controversial politician, but others continue to defend him, predicting that he will return to the electoral race, taking advantage of the loss of popularity of his successor, Rishi Sunak.
The current prime minister has vowed to restore political integrity to the government, but is mired in a historic cost-of-living crisis that he is unable to avert. Sunak did not go to the appointment, which earned him harsh criticism from the opposition.
The disciplinary sanction consisted of withdrawing Johnson’s access pass to the Palace of Westminster
Rather than oppose the report, the former prime minister called on his supporters to abstain and many Conservative MPs were absent from the session.
Johnson’s immediate predecessor, Theresa May, announced that she would vote against the conservative – who was her foreign minister – and urged her colleagues to do the same to “help restore confidence in our parliamentary democracy,” according to the news agency. AFP news.
After standing out as one of the architects of Brexit from the 2016 referendum, Johnson won in December 2019 the biggest electoral victory for the Conservative Party in decades.
However, two and a half years and numerous scandals later, he was forced by his own formation to resign as prime minister last July.
Parliament commissioned a commission to investigate whether he had deliberately lied to the deputies when he stated that the anti-Covid rules imposed by himself were always respected in his offices during the 2020 and 2021 lockdowns.
Among the few Johnson loyalists who voted against it today was Jacob Rees-Mogg, who assured that parliamentarians must “defend freedom of expression” and criticized the sanction against Johnson.
“Frankly, if politicians can’t take criticism, you have to wonder what they are doing in politics”he added, according to the Europa Press news agency.
On June 9, before these conclusions were made public, Johnson resigned from his seat as deputy, denouncing a political setup by his detractors.
Foto: Xinhua
Sunak and his government hoped to turn the page on “Partygate”, But his efforts were frustrated yesterday by the leak to the media of a new video in which conservative leaders are seen dancing at a party in December 2020 in full quarantine against the coronavirus.
They are “terrible” and “indefensible” images, Michael Gove, one of Sunak’s top ministers, acknowledged to the BBC.
Meanwhile, Rees-Moggpre said that the former prime minister could return to the electoral contest in the legislative elections scheduled for January 2025.
For now, the controversial conservative, who is about to be a father for the eighth time, has returned to journalism, which was his profession before turning to politics.
He agreed with the tabloid Daily Mail to write a weekly column.
According to the US website Politico, he will earn several hundred thousand dollars a year for it, which will be added to the millions he has already earned giving lectures since he left power.
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