Ex-PM Boris Johnson deliberately misled UK parliament over parties during Covid, committee rules

Former U.K. premier curate Boris Johnson intentionally misled parliament implicit amerciable Covid-19 lockdown parties held during his tenure, a parliamentary committee said Thursday, dubbing the enactment arsenic a "serious contempt."

The damning verdict of the privilege committee's long-awaited "partygate" study recovered that Johnson had willfully deceived parliament respective times erstwhile probed astir Downing Street parties that occurred nether his ticker and broke his ain lockdown rules.

"We reason that successful deliberately misleading the House, Mr Johnson committed a superior contempt," the findings of the cross-party committee showed.

"There is nary precedent for a Prime Minister having been recovered to person deliberately misled the House," it added.

The 100-page report, which investigated six gatherings held astatine the premier minister's authoritative residence astatine the clip of the U.K.'s astir stringent Covid restrictions, besides concluded that Johnson was complicit successful a "campaign of maltreatment and attempted intimidation" to disguise the circumstances of those events.

The committee, which consists of members of some the ruling Conservative Party and absorption Labour Party, recommended that Johnson should not beryllium entitled to a erstwhile Member's pass, which allows erstwhile premier ministers to entree parliament.

It besides said that, if Johnson were inactive a subordinate of parliament, helium should beryllium suspended from the House for 90 days. Johnson resigned arsenic a Conservative MP past week aft seeing an precocious transcript of the report. At the time, helium accused the cross-party committee of behaving similar a "kangaroo court" conducting a "political deed job" against him.

In a further statement Thursday, helium dubbed the findings "rubbish," "absurd" and "deranged," according to Perspective mag and the Telegraph. The ex-prime minister, a fervent Brexiteer, besides accused the committee of "prejudicial views," saying that a bulk of members "voted remain" successful the 2016 Brexit vote.

"The committee present says that I deliberately misled the House, and astatine the infinitesimal I spoke I was consciously concealing from the House my cognition of illicit events," helium wrote.

"This is rubbish. It is simply a lie. In bid to scope this deranged conclusion, the committee is obliged to accidental a bid of things that are patently absurd, oregon contradicted by the fact."

MPs liable for producing the study described Johnson's comments arsenic a stroke against U.K. antiauthoritarian institutions.

"This onslaught connected a committee carrying retired its remit from the democratically elected House itself amounts to an onslaught connected our antiauthoritarian institutions," the committee said.