Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be questioned by a panel of MPs following accusations that he lied to Parliament about Partygate.
Mr Johnson's defence against claims he made about Covid rule-breaking parties during the pandemic was submitted to the Privileges Committee on Monday. He was first asked to provide a written submission in July last year, but provided it 48 hours before his televised questioning by the committee, which will take place on Wednesday afternoon (March 22).
In his written evidence, which was published on Tuesday (March 21) he accepted he misled the House of Commons when he said lockdown rules had been followed in No 10 but insisted the statements were made “in good faith”.
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If Mr Johnson fails to convince the committee he did not deliberately mislead Parliament, he could be found to have committed a contempt of Parliament and receive a suspension. Such a move could ultimately end in a by-election.
If the committee rules that Mr Johnson did mislead the House, they will consider whether it was “reckless or intentional” and amounted to a contempt of Parliament. An interim report by the committee earlier this month said evidence strongly suggested breaches of coronavirus rules would have been “obvious” to the then-prime minister.
But Mr Johnson claimed it was “clear” he had not committed a contempt of Parliament, arguing there is “no evidence in the report that I knowingly or recklessly misled Parliament” or failed to update it in a timely manner. Mr Johnson has also sought to cast doubt on the findings of Sue Gray’s report on partygate, after she quit the Civil Service to take up a role in Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s office.
The Privileges Committee is examining evidence around at least four occasions when Mr Johnson may have misled MPs with his assurances to the Commons that lockdown rules were followed. The committee will publish its findings on whether the former prime minister committed a contempt of Parliament and make a recommendation on any punishment, but the ultimate decision will fall to the full House of Commons.
The hearing clashes with a key vote on Mr Sunak’s new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland, which Democratic Unionist Party MPs plan to oppose.
An estimated £220,000 of taxpayers’ money has been allocated for Mr Johnson’s legal bills.
When is Boris Johnson's televised hearing?
The hearing in front of the cross-party panel is due to take place on Wednesday (March 21) at around 2pm.
It will be broadcast live and available to watch on Parliament TV.
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