Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson admitted this Tuesday that he deceived MPs by claiming that his Downing Street collaborators had complied with the confinement rules, but defended the good faith of their actions.
“I take full responsibility for everything that happened during my time in Downing Street”, wrote Boris Johnson in the introduction to the document that defends him in cases of scandals during the pandemic.
It is a 52-page document, with 110 points, which was released on the eve of his parliamentary hearing.
The former conservative leader, who blames his advisers, will be heard this Wednesday afternoon as part of the parliamentary inquiry, an audience that is expected to last several hours.
Johnson, who was forced to resign in July over a series of scandals including Partygate, is trying to get ahead of investigators, as if the inquiry finds he lied to parliament, he could have to give up his MP and even his political career.
The inquiry must determine whether he deliberately lied in the House of Commons, including when he told MPs in December 2021 that “the rules were followed at all times”.
“Since these accusations emerged, I have repeatedly ensured that there were no parties and that no Covid-related rules were broken,” he said at the time.
Months of cascading revelations about drinking parties on Downing Street during the pandemic, while Britons were under strict lockdown measures, have shocked and enraged the country, especially families of victims of the disease. The British denounced “the two faces of the Prime Minister”.
According to reports from former employees, Boris Johnson joked during a party in November 2020 that he was “the least respectful of social distancing in the whole of the United Kingdom”.
lies in good faith
In the text of his defence, published on Tuesday, he acknowledged that “many days” “there were gatherings” at No. 10 Downing Street and recognizes that “they should never have happened”, apologizing to the British people.
“It is of course true that my statements to parliament that the rules were followed at all times were not accurate and I take this opportunity to apologize to parliament for this,” he wrote.
Boris Johnson tries to justify himself, stating: When these statements were made, they were made in good faith and based on what I honestly knew and believed at the time”, explaining that he had relied on the assurances of his senior advisers.
“I have not intentionally misled parliament on 1 December 2021, 8 December 2021 or any other date,” he wrote.
Political career at risk
If the inquiry concludes that he lied, MPs will have to vote on the sanctions he will face, including suspension. Any suspension of more than 10 days in his parliamentary mandate could trigger a new election in his constituency, where he will have to defend a narrow majority of 7,210 votes.
Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie have already been fined for participating in a surprise birthday party for the leader in June 2020. A party in which the current Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, then Minister of Finance, also participated and for which he was also fined.
Although he resigned in July after three years in office, Boris Johnson tried to return in late October, following the ephemeral departure of Liz Truss from Downing Street.
Despite scandals and repeated lies, this Brexit hero remains adored by some Conservatives. On Wednesday, he will no doubt show his oratory skills again.
But for the organization Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, which brings together families who have lost loved ones to Covid-19, “it is evident that Boris Johnson deliberately misled parliament” and the fact that he claims to have acted in good faith is “ disgusting”.