Boris Johnson faced being suspended from the House of Commons for 90 days if he had not quit as an MP last week.
A bombshell report from privileges committee slammed Johnson for deliberately misleading MPs and “being complicit in the campaign of abuse and attempted intimidation” of the committee.
It said the former Tory Prime Minister committed “repeated contempts” of Parliament with his partygate denials and also recommended that he is not issued a former MP's parliamentary pass when he leaves his role.
Johnson said the Privileges Committee was “beneath contempt” because it had reached a “deranged conclusion” to deliver “what is intended to be the final knife-thrust in a protracted political assassination”.
The committee found that Johnson had misled the Commons in five ways.
These included claiming Covid rules and guidance were followed at all times in Number 10 on four separate occasions and failing to tell the House “about his own knowledge of the gatherings where the rules or guidance had been broken”.
He also misled the house when he said he relied on “repeated reassurances” that rules had not been broken and when he insisted on waiting for Sue Gray’s report to be published before he could answer questions in the House even though he had “personal knowledge which he did not reveal”.
He also misled the house when he claimed that rules and guidance had been followed while he was present at gatherings in Number 10 when he “purported to correct the record” in May 2022.
The committee also found Johnson had been “disingenuous” when giving evidence to them in six “ways which amount to misleading”.
SNP MP Allan Dorans voted alongside Labour MP Yvonne Fovargue for the committee to recommend that Johnson should have been expelled if he had remained an MP.
But the four Tory members of the committee – Bernard Jenkin, Charles Walker, Andy Carter and Bishopbriggs native Alberto Costa – opposed the amendment.
SNP Westminster Deputy Leader Mhairi Black MP said:
"This report is utterly damning for Boris Johnson and this arrogant Tory government - and it underlines why Scotland needs to escape Westminster control with independence.
"Johnson may have left parliament but his toxic legacy continues - with yet another out of touch Tory Prime Minister imposing Brexit, cuts and attacks on devolution against Scotland's will.
"The SNP is the only party offering a real alternative with independence - and it's the only way to escape the broken Westminster system and get rid of unelected Tory governments for good."
The Liberal Democrats called for Johnson to be stripped of the £115,000 annual allowance available to former prime ministers to run their office.
Deputy Lib Dem leader Daisy Cooper said: “This damning report should be the final nail in the coffin for Boris Johnson’s political career.
“It is completely unprecedented for a former prime minister to be found to have been a law-breaker and serial liar, who treated the public and Parliament with total disdain.
“Rishi Sunak must cut off Johnson’s ex-prime minister allowance to stop him milking the public purse for his own personal gain.
“Anything less would be an insult to bereaved families who suffered while Boris Johnson lied and partied.”
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