Johnson slams 'nudist' Bernard Jenkin over Partygate 'rank hypocrisy'

Boris Johnson slams ‘nudist’ Bernard Jenkin over Privileges Committee member’s ‘rank hypocrisy’ amid claims he committed his own lockdown breach by attending a Commons’ birthday party for his wife

• Claims the MP attended a gathering with alcoholic drinks in December 2020 
• Party ‘with drinks and cakes’ held to mark 65th birthday of his wife Anne

Boris Johnson slammed a senior Tory MP on the Privileges Committee today, accusing him of ‘rank hypocrisy’ over claims he also broke Covid rules by attending a birthday party for his wife.

The ex-PM lashed out at Sir Bernard Jenkin today after the committee found the ex-PM in contempt of parliament over lies to MPs in the Commons. 

In a withering statement Mr Johnson questioned why it was illegal for him ‘to thank staff’ in person during Covid lockdowns but ‘legal for Sir Bernard to attend his wife’s birthday party’.

Last night it was alleged that the MP attended a gathering with alcoholic drinks in December 2020 to mark the 65th birthday of his wife, Baroness Anne Jenkin, also attended by several senior Tory MPs. 

Sir Bernard has not commented on the claims first made by the Guido Fawkes website.

In a statement this morning, Mr Johnson said: ‘The hypocrisy is rank. Like Harriet Harman, he should have recused himself from the inquiry, since he is plainly conflicted.’

He also later had a pop at the MP’s naturism past-time, saying the committee’s arguments were ‘so threadbare that it belongs in one of Bernard Jenkin’s nudist colonies’.

Boris Johnson lashed out at Sir Bernard Jenkin today after the committee found the ex-PM in contempt of parliament over lies to MPs in the Commons.

In a statement this morning, Mr Johnson said: ‘The hypocrisy is rank. Like Harriet Harman, he should have recused himself from the inquiry, since he is plainly conflicted’

Sir Bernard is said to have attended a 65th birthday party for his wife Anne (pictured together) held by Commons Deputy Speaker Dame Eleanor Laing in December 2020, while London was in Tier 2 measures restricting indoor mixing

Sir Bernard is reported to have attended a drinks party held by Commons Deputy Speaker Dame Eleanor Laing in December 2020, while London was in Tier 2 measures restricting indoor mixing. 

Neither Sir Bernard nor Dame Eleanor responded to requests for comment about the story. The matter has been referred to both the Metropolitan Police and the Commons authorities.

While Sir Bernard could in theory face a fine similar to that paid by Mr Johnson over his own birthday party in lockdown, the committee today was not censuring him for his own brushes with the law.

It was instead ruling on whether he misled MPs when he told them he believed no laws had been broken. 

In a twist of events, the report today revealed that Sir Bernard helped see off a Labour and SNP attempt to have Mr Johnson permanently expelled from Parliament.

The symbolic move came this week after the former premier accused the committee of being a ‘kangaroo court’. But the four Tories who make up the majority on the committee voted against the attempt.

After 14 months of investigation, the Privileges Committee concluded in a bombshell report that the ex-PM ‘deliberately misled’ Parliament

In a letter to committee chairman Harriet Harman last night, Mr Johnson said Sir Bernard ‘can no longer be held to have been a valid judge or investigator in these proceedings’.

He added: ‘If indeed it is the case that he broke the rules himself – and knowingly broke them – Sir Bernard is guilty of flagrant and monstrous hypocrisy.

‘But I am afraid it is far worse than that. He has just voted to expel me from the House of Commons because he says – falsely – that I concealed from the House my knowledge of illicit events.

‘If indeed he did attend a blatantly rule breaking event he would be guilty of doing exactly what he claims that I did.

‘Although this report is not yet confirmed by an investigation, I believe he should have informed the Committee of his conflict and he should have informed the House. He should have recused himself.

‘It seems to me that Sir Bernard can no longer be held to have been a valid judge or investigator in these proceedings.’

In a separate statement, Mr Johnson added: ‘He has no choice but to explain his actions to his own committee, for his colleagues to investigate and then to resign.’

Former Cabinet minister Nadine Dorries called for the report to be halted. ‘If this is true then the report should be stopped,’ she said. ‘We cannot know what influence Sir Bernard had on its findings, and without that the report cannot stand.’

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