Partygate jury 'would be kicked out of real court', says Zac Goldsmith

2023-07-07

Tory peer Zac Goldsmith slams privileges committee that condemned former Prime Minister Boris Johnson over Partygate

The Partygate committee attacked Boris Johnson in a second report last week
Johnson’s ally Lord Goldsmith said the panel would be kicked out of real court

Zac Goldsmith last night stepped up his attack on the Commons privileges committee that condemned Boris Johnson over Partygate.

The Tory peer hit out at the MPs who found Mr Johnson lied to Parliament over lockdown gatherings in No 10, accusing them of a ‘basic lack of fairness’.

The committee attacked the former prime minister in a second report last week for criticising its inquiry into Mr Johnson’s conduct.

Sir Bernard Jenkin remains one of its members despite facing calls to stand down while he faces being investigated by police for his own alleged lockdown-busting behaviour.

Lord Goldsmith, an ally of Mr Johnson who sparked a furious public row with No 10 after resigning as a minister last week, was asked by Channel 4 News if he believed the committee was a ‘kangaroo court’.

Zac Goldsmith last night stepped up his attack on the Commons privileges committee that condemned Boris Johnson over Partygate

He said: ‘Since you ask – and I don’t want to appear evasive – but my view is that, were that committee a court of law, with a jury in the normal sense, the jury would have been sacked and replaced almost on day one.

‘I think it’s very hard to have to have a hearing of that sort where almost every member of the committee had expressed their view very publicly before they had even seen the evidence. I just think there’s a basic lack of fairness there.’

Lord Goldsmith was criticised in the second report for retweeting a tweet calling the inquiry into Mr Johnson a witch-hunt and kangaroo court.

No 10 asked him to apologise after being named in the report.

It triggered the public row after Downing Street claimed Lord Goldsmith refused and then resigned.

But he denied this was the case, adding: ‘The idea that I was unhappy with the prospect of apologising is not true.’

In his resignation letter, he appeared to blame his departure on Rishi Sunak being ‘apathetic’ and ‘simply uninterested’ on the environment and climate change.

Lord Goldsmith, an ally of Mr Johnson (pictured in March), sparked a furious public row with No 10 after resigning as a minister last week

Source: Read Full Article