Boris Johnson is 'very much' looking forward to Partygate grilling

2023-03-21

Boris Johnson says he is ‘very much’ looking forward to being grilled by MPs over Partygate tomorrow because they have ‘not a shred of evidence’ he deliberately misled Parliament – after releasing his 52-page defence dossier

Johnson is facing four-hour showdown with the Privileges Committee tomorrow
But former PM says he’s ready for the grilling having prepared a defence dossier

Boris Johnson has said he is ‘very much’ looking forward to his appearance before MPs investigating whether he knowingly misled Parliament over partygate.

In a statement ahead of Wednesday’s hearing of the Commons Privileges Committee, the former prime minister said: ‘I look forward very much to the committee session tomorrow.

‘I believe that the evidence conclusively shows that I did not knowingly or recklessly mislead Parliament.

‘The committee has produced not a shred of evidence to show that I have.’

The ex-premier has submitted a 52-page file to the cross-party privileges committee ahead of tomorrow’s four-hour televised grilling.

The committee is investigating whether Mr Johnson lied to Parliament when he reassured MPs that lockdown rules had been observed.

Boris Johnson today denied ‘intentionally or recklessly’ misleading MPs over Partygate in a bombshell dossier

The former premier, pictured returning from his morning run today, revealed he still has no idea why he was fined by police over his birthday ‘party’ in June 2020

In his mammoth defence dossier, the ex-PM insisted he acted in ‘good faith’ and argued that many other No10 aides were also ‘honestly’ convinced that rules had been followed.

He denied ‘intentionally or recklessly’ misleading MPs and stressed he was repeatedly told by senior aides that there had been no rule breaches.

Mr Johnson added that, as soon as he became aware that was not the case, he corrected the record in Parliament.

He also revealed he still has no idea why he was fined by police over his birthday ‘party’ in June 2020, and suggested that Rishi Sunak feels the same way.

Allies have been condemning the process as a ‘kangaroo court’, arguing that Labour chairman Harriet Harman has already made her views clear and not all evidence was being made public. The committee said Ms Harman was elected unanimously by other members, and the investigation was ordered by the House as a whole.

If the committee were to recommend a suspension of more than ten days, and it was approved by the House, Mr Johnson could face a by-election.

A survey of activists by the grassroots ConservativeHome website found widespread scepticism about the process, with 59 per cent saying it is unfair.

However, Mr Sunak made clear this morning that he will not order Tories to line up behind Mr Johnson should the committee find he deliberately or recklessly misled the House.

Rishi Sunak made clear this morning that he will not order Tories to line up behind Mr Johnson should the committee find he misled the House

Labour’s Harriet Harman (pictured) will chair the committee grilling the former Prime Minister

Mr Johnson conceded in his evidence to the privileges committee that his statements to Parliament ‘did not turn out to be correct’ but insisted he amended the record at ‘the earliest opportunity’.

‘It is of course true that my statements to Parliament that the rules and guidance had been followed at all times did not turn out to be correct, and I take this opportunity to apologise to the House for that,’ he said.

‘As soon as the Sue Gray investigation and the Metropolitan Police investigation had been concluded, I corrected the record. I believed – and I still believe – that this was the earliest opportunity at which I could make the necessary correction.

Key points from Boris Johnson’s Partygate rebuttal dossier

Boris Johnson said his statements to Parliament ‘did not turn out to be correct’, but insisted he amended the record at ‘the earliest opportunity’.
Mr Johnson argued that many other No10 aides were also ‘honestly’ convinced that rules had been followed.
He stressed that he was repeatedly assured by senior aides that there had been no breaches.
Mr Johnson said it is ‘unprecedented and absurd’ to suggest he was reckless to rely on the assurances of his advisers and criticised the ‘highly partisan tone and content’ in the committee’s interim report.
Mr Johnson revealed he still has no idea why he was fined by police over his birthday ‘party’ in June 2020, and suggested that Rishi Sunak feels the same way.
Mr Johnson urged the committee not to treat Dominic Cummings as a ‘credible witness’ because of his ‘animosity towards me’.
Mr Johnson acknowledged that he had gone further than the line he had been given by No10 advisers when responding to a ‘surprise’ question from Keir Starmer at PMQs.
But he said his insistence that guidance had been followed in No10 reflected his ‘honest and reasonable belief at the time’.

‘It was not fair or appropriate to give a half-baked account, before the facts had been fully and properly established, including into many events about which I had no personal knowledge.’

He insisted that, other than the ‘assertions of the discredited Dominic Cummings’, his former chief aide, there is ‘not a single document that indicates that I received any warning or advice that any event broke’ the rules.

Mr Johnson urged the committee not to treat Mr Cummings as a ‘credible witness’ because of his ‘animosity towards me’.

The former Tory leader rejected the committee’s belief that the evidence strongly suggested breaches of coronavirus rules would have been ‘obvious’ to him while prime minister.

He called the inquiry’s allegation ‘illogical’, arguing that some of those who attended the events ‘wished me ill and would denounce me if I concealed the truth’.

‘Far from achieving a ‘cover-up’, I would have known that any deception on my part would lead to instant exposure. This would have been senseless and immediately self-defeating,’ he wrote.

He said it was ‘implausible’ that he would have known the parties photographed and ‘immortalised’ by his own official photographer were rule-breaking.

Mr Johnson insisted it was ‘unprecedented and absurd’ to suggest he was reckless to rely on the assurances of his advisers and criticised the ‘highly partisan tone and content’ in the committee’s interim report.

He insisted that any lack of social distancing in the ‘old, cramped London townhouse’ of No 10 was not necessarily a breach of guidance.

‘We tried to keep our distance, but we knew that proximity was sometimes unavoidable, and we knew that this was acceptable under the guidance,’ he said.

Mr Johnson accepted he personally attended five of the events considered by the committee but said he ‘honestly believed that these events were lawful work gatherings’.

‘I did not know that any of the events that I had attended later escalated beyond what was lawful after I left,’ he wrote.

‘Nor was I aware of the existence of many of the other events that Sue Gray and the Metropolitan Police subsequently investigated.

‘I was not present at those events, and I was not warned before or after any of these events that an event may have been held in breach of the Rules or Guidance.’

The ex-PM conceded in his evidence to the committee that his statements to Parliament ‘did not turn out to be correct’ – but insisted he amended the record at ‘the earliest opportunity’

Mr Johnson described a conversation with Mr Doyle on November 30, after the Daily Mirror first contacted No10 about allegations of lockdown breaches in the building.

The paper had asked questions about gatherings on November 13, November 27 and December 18, 2020.

Mr Johnson said that based on his attendance of the November events he would have been confident they had not flouted rules or guidance – because they ‘escalated’ after he left.

‘Therefore, our conversation focussed on the allegation that there was a party on 18 December 2020,’ Mr Johnson wrote.

‘My initial reaction at the time was that this was some kind of try-on. At the time, it seemed implausible to me that there could have been an illegal event at No. 10 almost a year earlier that I had not heard about before.

‘Nonetheless, I asked Jack Doyle about the event, which he confirmed he had attended.

‘He explained to me that the media team held a regular Friday evening team meeting, where they would discuss what had occurred during the week, and have a drink.

‘As this was the last Friday of the year, there was also cheese and a Secret Santa. He reminded me that this had been a ‘nightmare’ evening, as the country was about to go back into lockdown at a time when I was desperate to protect Christmas.

‘He informed me that to call it a party was a great exaggeration. I asked him: ‘Was it within the Rules?’ He told me: ‘It was within the Rules.’

‘I had no basis to disbelieve Jack’s account of the event.’

Mr Johnson described a conversation with communications director Jack Doyle on November 30, after the Daily Mirror first contacted No10 about allegations of lockdown breaches in the building

Mr Johnson acknowledged that he had gone further than the line he had been given by advisers on whether No10 had been in compliance with lockdown guidance

Mr Johnson said in the submission that he still did not know why he had been fined for his birthday ‘party’ in June 2020 (pictured above) and suggested Rishi Sunak feels the same way

The ex-PM defended attending leaving parties in Downing Street, saying: ‘I might raise a glass to honour a colleague, but that was it’

Mr Johnson went on: ‘This did not sound to me like a breach of the rules or the guidance, let alone a party.

‘Based on the information with which I was provided, this sounded like it was firmly within the work exception, and consistent with the guidance.

‘Drinking wine or exchanging gifts at work and whilst working did not, in my view, turn an otherwise lawful workplace gathering into an unlawful one.’

Mr Johnson said he ‘did not anticipate that this would be a big story’ and was ‘surprised’ when Keir Starmer used it as his main line of attack at PMQs the next day.

The submission states that there was no specific response written into his briefing pack for the exchanges.

‘He [Sir Keir] asked me: ‘Was a Christmas party thrown in Downing Street for dozens of people on 18 December?’ I responded, based on the conversations that I had had the previous day and that morning: ‘What I can tell the right hon. and learned Gentleman is that all guidance was followed completely in No 10′.’

Mr Johnson acknowledged that he had gone further than the line he had been given by advisers.

‘I meant to repeat the line which my advisers had already given to the Daily Mirror – i.e. that: ‘Covid rules were followed at all times’.

‘However, I did believe that ‘all guidance was followed completely in No 10’.

‘This was based on my honest and reasonable belief at the time.’

Boris and Rishi ‘still bewildered by Partygate fines’

Boris Johnson today insisted he still does not know why he and Rishi Sunak received fines for lockdown breaches.

The ex-PM voiced his bewilderment for the first time in his submission to the Privileges Committee.

And he suggested that Mr Sunak is similarly confused about having received the punishment.

‘There is one event for which the current Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak MP, and I were given fixed penalty notices by the Metropolitan Police: the event on 19 June 2020,’ he wrote.

‘I have accepted the conclusion of the Police that my participation in the gathering in the Cabinet Room on my birthday, which I knew nothing about in advance, was unlawful.

‘However, to this day it remains unclear to me – and I believe the Prime Minister may feel the same – how precisely we committed an offence under the Regulations.

‘I have never been provided with any rationale by the Police, in particular how some individuals that attended did not receive a fixed penalty notice.’

Mr Johnson said in the submission that he still did not know why he had been fined for his birthday ‘party’ in June 2020 – and suggested that Mr Sunak feels the same way.

‘There is one event for which the current Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak MP, and I were given fixed penalty notices by the Metropolitan Police: the event on 19 June 2020,’ he wrote.

‘I have accepted the conclusion of the Police that my participation in the gathering in the Cabinet Room on my birthday, which I knew nothing about in advance, was unlawful.

‘However, to this day it remains unclear to me – and I believe the Prime Minister may feel the same – how precisely we committed an offence under the Regulations.

‘I have never been provided with any rationale by the police, in particular how some individuals that attended did not receive a fixed penalty notice.’

Mr Johnson defended attending leaving parties in Downing Street, saying: ‘I might raise a glass to honour a colleague, but that was it.’

‘At the time I was recovering from a serious illness, I was desperately worried about the state of the country, and I was going back to my flat to continue working,’ he said in his evidence to the privileges committee, adding that he was never at such events for more than half an hour.

‘When I looked around the room, I did not think anyone was breaking any rules or guidance: on the contrary, I thought that we were all doing our job.’

It was his ‘duty’ as the prime minister to ‘say a few words of thanks’ to those departing, Mr Johnson said.

The submission includes extracts from evidence given by former communications director Jack Doyle, senior civil servant Martin Reynolds, and MP aide Andrew Griffith among others insisting that Mr Johnson received assurances rules were followed.

Tory MP Sarah Dines said she was ‘about 90 per cent’ sure that Cabinet Secretary Simon Case was one of those who offered assurances in meetings.

The privileges committee said Mr Johnson’s final written evidence did not arrive until 8.02am today because the original contained ‘a number of errors and typos’.

‘Mr Johnson’s written submission contains no new documentary evidence,’ the group added.

In an interview with BBC Breakfast earlier, Mr Sunak indicated that if Mr Johnson’s case comes before the Commons he will follow the convention that it is a free vote.

‘These are matters for Parliament and the House and MPs as individuals, rather than for government. So that is the general process that we will follow,’ he said.

Asked whether he agreed with the portrayal of the inquiry as a witch-hunt, Mr Sunak said: ‘That’s ultimately something for Boris Johnson and he’ll have the committee process to go through and that’s a matter for Parliament. That’s not what I’m focused on.’

The ex-prime minister submitted a 52-page file to the cross-party Privileges Committee ahead of a four-hour grilling tomorrow

Mr Johnson’s team says the Commons privileges committee – which has a Tory majority with four members – has received ‘thousands of documents’ supporting his claim that he did not deliberately mislead Parliament.

Dozens of witnesses are said to have told the committee they also believed the notorious gatherings were within the rules.

But the committee said: ‘The House of Commons as a whole approved a motion to appoint Harriet Harman to the committee. The other six members of the committee, which has a Government party majority, then elected Harriet Harman as chair unanimously.’

A spokesman added: ‘The members of the privileges committee are Members of Parliament who have been appointed to this role by the House.

‘The decision to carry out this inquiry was not taken by the privileges committee but by the House of Commons as a whole.

‘The House unanimously passed a motion to refer this matter to the committee of privileges on April 21.

‘The committee can only consider matters referred to it by the House, and is duty bound to proceed with the inquiry following the House’s instruction unless and until it is instructed otherwise.’

The MPs have already published a 23-page summary of the issues they want to raise with Mr Johnson, including his communications with aides and why he made statements in Parliament insisting there had been no rule breaches in Downing Street.

The former PM and Mr Sunak were both eventually fined for a single lockdown breach – in relation to a birthday party for the then-premier– after investigations by civil servant Sue Gray and Scotland Yard. However, Mr Johnson was not fined for any of the other events.

Ms Gray has since been recruited as Sir Keir Starmer’s new chief of staff, although she is awaiting clearance from the appointments watchdog before accepting.

The privileges committee is holding an unprecedented investigation into whether Mr Johnson misled Parliament when he told MPs that ‘all guidance was followed’ in No 10.

It has suggested he could be punished if he did so ‘recklessly’, rather than the normal threshold of deliberately.

The committee could potentially recommend a lengthy suspension that could trigger a by-election in his Uxbridge and South Ruislip.

Allies of the former PM fear the inquiry, led by Labour’s former deputy leader Ms Harman, has become a ‘witch-hunt’.

In an interim report this month, the committee said it should have been ‘obvious’ to him at the time that lockdown rules were not being observed.

It published messages from No 10 aides, including one suggesting it was hard to explain how a Cabinet Room gathering to mark Mr Johnson’s birthday was within the rules.

And the inquiry was granted access by No 10 to a vast cache of internal documents.

Conservative Home regularly surveys a panel of party members, and although the results are not entirely scientific they are closely-watched at Westminster.

The latest poll found the activists agree that Mr Johnson broke lockdown rules by 49 per cent to 38 per cent.

Around 30 per cent said he deliberately misled the Commons over Partygate, but 59 per cent insisted he did not.

Some 59 per cent said the process is unfair, compared to 30 per cent who thought the opposite.

However, just a quarter suggested Mr Johnson should return as leader and PM before the next election, while 66 per cent said he should not.

Source: Read Full Article